Shattered
by ForeverSam
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo knows the rule of the world: in the end, the only one he can depend on is himself. On the path to self-destruction, he meets the last person who still believes he's worth something — if he can only let her in —AU, IchiRuki—
1. Caught Again

**Title:** Shattered  
**Rating: **T  
**AU?: **Yup  
**Pairing(s): **IchiRuki  
**Summary: **Kurosaki Ichigo knows the rule of the world: in the end, the only one he can depend on is himself. On the path to self-destruction, he meets the last person who still believes he's worth something — if he can only let her in [AU, IchiRuki]  
**Beginning Notes: **So I have an unnaturally unhealthy obsession with the Trading Yesterday song _Shattered_ (and _Love Song Requiem_ and _Beauty and the Tragedy._ But that's a story for another day). Anyways, if you've never heard this song, go listen to it. I demand you go listen to it. It is amazing. And I'm in love with it. That is all.  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Bleach_ or the song _Shattered_. I am just a lowly fan who clearly needs a life. But if I had one, I wouldn't have enough time to write. What a nasty catch-twenty-two. Read on!

* * *

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered one  
____To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**I. Caught Again**_

"Get back you here you filthy thief!"

Heads turned to watch the high speed pursuit of the middle-aged fruit vendor chasing the hooded, black-clad figure down the street. The chaser had a clear disadvantage against the one he was chasing; the thief had quite a head-start, after all, and was clearly faster than the vendor.

"You're not getting away this time!" The vendor shouted, informing the spectators that this was a daily ritual. "Get back here, street trash!"

The thief skidded around a corner, bolting down an alleyway. By the time the vendor got there, the thief was scaling the chain-link fence that broke the alley into two parts. "Oh no you don't!" The vendor shouted, running down the alley, one hand out; he got a tight hold on the thief's ankle. "Gotcha! Now give me—"

His words were cut off quite abruptly by a shoe to the face. The vendor cursed as he stumbled back, clutching, and the thief laughed, finishing his climb to the top, and jumping down onto the other side, running away.

"Damn you!" The vendor shouted, sputtering through the blood that ran freely from his nose. "_Damn you_!"

The chase was over. The thief had won. Again.

Kurosaki Ichigo was still chuckling as he slipped his hood off and pulled the apple out of his pocket, tossing it into the air once before taking a large bite out of it. He was pretty sure he'd broken the vendor's nose. But hey, that was what he got for calling Ichigo _street trash_.

_That's the breaks,_ he thought with a smirk, taking another bite of the apple.

"Yo, Ichigo!" Ichigo turned his head to look over his shoulder. "Could hear that vendor yelling at you three streets over." Renji said as he caught up to Ichigo. "You really like pushing his buttons, don't you?"

"He just makes it so _easy_." Ichigo shrugged. Renji rolled his eyes as he pulled a candy bar out of his pocket.

"You should just stick to convenience stores. They keep all the small stuff at the back, they're practically _asking_ me to steal it."

"Sure, blame the stores for your inability to keep your hands to yourself."

Renji chuckled. "I blame life for that one, my friend."

"I blame lack of money."

"Nah, too simple. Gotta be creative to survive in this world." Ichigo opened his mouth to answer, but cut off abruptly to look up when he felt a raindrop hit his face.

"Damn, I think it's starting to rain." He groaned silently. He was _not_ looking forward to walking across the city in the rain.

"Think we can get back before it starts coming down heavy?"

The sky answered that question, opening up almost the moment Renji finished talking and dropping bucketsful of a water on the two teens. "Does _that_ answer your question?" Ichigo grumbled as he shoved his half-eaten apple back into his sweatshirt pocket and yanked his hood back up over his head.

"Yeah, yeah." Renji responded sarcastically, pulling on his own hood as well. "Come on, there's a place near here we can hide out in until it stops."

He took off down the street, Ichigo right behind him.

Renji's idea turned out to be one of the many old warehouses in the city. They went around the back, climbing carefully through a broken window. "Who's that?" Ichigo heard someone call as he climbed in after Renji. He froze.

"S'just me." Renji said easily, though he held his hands up as if in defeat. "Gimme a break Takaichi."

Ichigo jumped off the sill, landing lightly on the floor, and straightened up to face the person Renji was talking. He was a big guy, probably two or three years older than Ichigo, his hair almost completely cut off. "We're just here to hide from the rain," Renji continued. "We won't get in the way of anything, don't worry."

"Whatever." Takaichi sounded uninterested now that he was familiar with at least one of the intruders. "Just go sit in a corner somewhere, and make sure you get out as soon as the rain is done."

"No problem." Renji muttered as Takaichi walked away. Ichigo turned to glare at his red-haired friend.

"_What_," he demanded angrily, "are you getting us into here? How do you even _know_ that guy?"

"He saved my ass a couple weeks back." Renji said with a shrug, going to sit on a crate in a corner. "Got into a tough spot with some cops, they woulda had me if Takaichi hadn't come along. He dragged me in here and let me hide until the cops were gone."

Ichigo looked around the warehouse wearily. There were only a few people there besides themselves; they were all gathered around Takaichi, who was handing something to them. "_Please_ don't tell me—"

"Yeah…he, ya know, _might_ be a dealer—"

"Are you _serious_?" Ichigo hissed. He was struggling not to yell. "Damn it Renji, I'd rather be out in the rain than hanging around here, I don't want to get caught up in this crap!"

"Chill, Ichigo," Renji tried to placate his friend. "Look, I hang out here a lot when I need to get off the street for a few, I've never gotten into trouble or anything. It'll be fine. Rain should pass over soon, and when it does we'll get out of here, no harm done."

"Brilliant." Ichigo groaned as he dropped onto the crate next to Renji. "I swear Renji, if anything comes of this, you're _dead_."

"Man, you worry too much Ichigo—"

Renji was cut off as the large, sliding door was shoved open, and a loud voice boomed, "_Nobody move_!"

The three kids Takaichi had been dealing with dispersed instantly; Takaichi took off as well, running deeper into the warehouse. "_Damn it_!" Ichigo swore furiously as he and Renji jumped up as well. It would have been bad enough if the cops had just picked him up. He did _not_ need it on his record that they'd picked him up during a drug bust.

"Come on!" Renji grabbed Ichigo's arm and dragged him back over to the window they'd come in through. Ichigo jumped up the crate under the window, preparing to climb through.

"Gotcha!"

Ichigo froze mid-climb. The voice was familiar; it wasn't referring to him though. "Son of bitch, let go!" Renji growled, trying to yank his arm back. "We weren't doing—"

Ichigo vaulted himself back off the crate, sending his fist right into the cop's face. The cop yelled in surprise as he stumbled back, losing his grip on Renji. "Go!" Ichigo shouted at Renji, who instantly turned and ran to the window.

"Very noble Kurosaki." The cop growled as he grabbed both of Ichigo's wrists, holding him back. Ichigo looked over at the window just in time to see Renji's red head disappear. At least _one_ of them had gotten away.

"Zaraki." Ichigo grumbled, defeated. Zaraki Kenpachi laughed cruelly as he yanked Ichigo towards the warehouse entrance.

"You're in for it this time kid, I wouldn't be surprised if they kicked you out of the system—"

"If you had half a brain you'd realize I wasn't doing drugs." Ichigo snapped. It was that slight that probably forced Zaraki to shove Ichigo a little harder than necessary as he pushed the teen into the cop car.

"We'll see, won't we? I'm sure your social worker will _really_ appreciate this call…"

* * *

Ichigo looked up from the table as the door opened, and yet another familiar cop walked in. "Kurosaki-kun." Ukitake sighed, dropping a manila folder onto the table. "So much for not seeing you again any time soon, huh?"

"It's been six months, that's a long time."

"It was three months before your file ended up back on my desk." Ukitake corrected, taking a seat across from Ichigo. "That's _not_ a long time."

"Well you must have gotten your fun little test results back, you know I wasn't doing anything, so you can feel free to let me go at _any_ time—"

"I'll let you go when your social worker gets here." Ukitake cut Ichigo off. "You know how it goes. We pick you up, she comes, puts you in another foster home—"

"Then I run away again. It's all a cruel, vicious cycle, isn't it?"

Ukitake couldn't stop the pity that flooded through him as he stared into the angry amber eyes of the boy across the table from him. "I don't understand you, Kurosaki-kun." He said finally.

"I've heard _that_ a million times." Ichigo muttered, looking away from Ukitake. The silver-haired cop was pretty hard to hate — under any other circumstance, Ichigo was sure he would have respected Ukitake a great deal. Unfortunately, though, Ukitake was friends with Ichigo's social worker; whenever Ichigo ran away, Ukitake was usually the one he ended up dealing with.

"Has there really been something with _every_ foster home you've been in?"

"Yeah. I don't like 'em."

"That's not a reason," Ukitake argued quietly, "it's an excuse."

Ichigo shrugged uncaringly. "Same difference."

"So you like living on the streets better than being in a foster home?" Ichigo didn't answer. "Kurosaki-kun—"

"What do you care?" Ichigo demanded, cutting Ukitake off. "I'm not your problem, so just lay off it, all right? Your only job in regards to me is picking up the phone and calling my social worker so _she_ can come down and ask me these questions. You don't have to pretend to care."

Silence filled the room for a moment. "If that's what you want." Ukitake said finally, standing up. "Your social worker should be here in half an hour, you want anything to drink?"

"No thanks." Ichigo said shortly. He waited until the door had closed to look forward, grateful to be alone again. Sighing he reached into his pocket, pulling out the worn picture he always kept there. He didn't even bother to look at the photo, instead flipping it to look at the writing on the back.

Tamachi. Chidori. Akama. Hikaru. Kama. Ansuz. Ryuiichi. Sagara. Eight names. Eight different foster homes in the seven years he'd been in the system. Of course, that didn't count the time he'd spent running away and living in the group home.

He was sure when his social worker walked in the first thing he'd hear was how much better his sisters were doing than him, and why did he have to cause _so much_ trouble…

The clock on the wall told him it was just after six o'clock. Oh yeah, his social worker was _not_ going to be happy. It was supper time, she was going to want to be sitting at home, eating with her family. She wasn't going to want to deal with her biggest trouble case.

_Whatever_, Ichigo thought as he leaned back in his chair, kicking the front two legs up and resting his feet on the table, his hands curled behind his head. He didn't change his position when he heard the door open, didn't bother to look and see who was walking in.

"Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo lowered himself back to the ground, his feet resting flat against the floor. "Hisana-san." He greeted his social worker dryly. Hisana sighed, folding her arms across her chest and giving him an unreadable look.

"Good to see you're still alive. I suppose if I ask what was so wrong with the Sagaras you had to run away, you won't answer, will you?"

"They were all right." Ichigo shrugged. "You know, if you're into curfews and going to school and being around a bunch of other people all the time."

"Sounds like a good life to me." Hisana responded. "So tell me, which part was the biggest turn off?"

"I just didn't want to be there, all right?" Ichigo snapped, annoyed. "C'mon, just sign the paper work so you can get me out of here and drop me off at Kyoraku-kun's for the night, I'm sure you want to get home to your family."

"Paper work is already taken care of." Hisana shook her head slowly. "Lets just get out of here. Looks like I'm going in early tomorrow to find you a new home."

"Good luck with that." Ichigo said as he pushed himself up, grabbing his sweatshirt off the back of his chair and walking over to Hisana. She stepped aside, letting him walk out first, following him through the station.

Ichigo noticed a distinctive smell of pizza when he climbed into Hisana's car. "You caught me on the way home." Hisana explained as she climbed in as well.

"Sorry." Okay, that was a lie.

"I'm sure you are."

The ride to the group home was quiet, as usual. Hisana had learned long ago that trying to talk to Ichigo was useless. Silence was usually the best way to get through these car-rides.

"Well _there's_ a face we haven't seen in awhile."

_And _there's_ a voice I hoped I'd never have to hear again_, Ichigo thought bitterly as he shifted his eyes to look up at Kyoraku Shunsui, who was beaming down at the orange-haired teen.

"You'll be rooming with Shinji this time, second room on the right." Ichigo looked back at Hisana, who silently handed him his backpack of belongings that she'd rescued from his last home.

"I'll be back as soon as I can find you a new home." She told him simply. "Try to stay out of trouble, _please_ Kurosaki-kun."

"Sure." Ichigo slung the bag over his shoulder, making his way upstairs without another word. Hisana stared after him, her eyes filled with sadness.

"You really think you're going to be able to find him another home?" Kyoraku asked quietly, no longer smiling. "I mean, with his record…"

"I'll do the best I can." Hisana shook her head, sighing. "I have to get home, my sister's waiting. Call me if there are any problems."

"Right-o, Hisana-san." Kyoraku jokingly saluted the young woman. Hisana almost smiled as she left. The smile faded almost instantly. She was almost positive she wasn't going to find another home for this boy.

Which meant she had no clue what she was going to do with Kurosaki Ichigo.

* * *

**Author's Note**: So…worth continuing? Yes, no…_why _are you holding torches and pitchforks…? Hehe…um, review and let me know what you think? — Sam


	2. One More Chance

**Beginning Note: **Just to clear up any confusion, Ichigo and Rukia are both sixteen in this story, along with any of their friends (such as Renji), Hisana twenty-seven, Byakuya (of course _he_ found is way into this story. Are you surprised?) is twenty-eight. And I do believe those are all the ones of importance. Read on please!

* * *

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**II. One More Chance**_

"Pizza delivery!" Hisana sang as she walked into the living room. Rukia was curled up at the end of the couch, reading a book.

"Hey Nee-san. Long day?"

"I'm sorry I'm late." Hisana sighed as she slipped off her shoes and made her way into the kitchen. "I think the pizza is cold, that's what microwaves are for though aren't they?"

"Why _are_ you late?" Rukia called, not moving from her spot in the living room. "You were kind of vague on the phone."

"Oh, they found my run away case. He's back at the group home until I can find him a new place."

"Why bother, from what you told me he'll just run away again." Hisana wasn't about to admit that her sister was right.

"Just get your butt in here and get your pizza."

"Fine, fine." There was a _flop_ as Rukia tossed her book onto the coffee table and stood up. Hisana smiled, reaching up into the cabinet to get a couple of plates. "Oh, before I forget, Kuchiki-sama called."

_Crash!_

That was the sound of two ceramic plates slipping out of Hisana's suddenly numb fingers. "Smooth, Nee-san." Rukia rolled her eyes as she walked into the kitchen. "At least they didn't break."

"Sh-Shut up," Hisana managed to squeak. "Did he uh…leave a message?"

"Yeah, he wants you to call him back." Rukia reached around her sister, grabbing one of the fallen plates and flipping open the pizza box, pulling out a slice. "Warm enough, I don't think you need to bother with the microwave."

"What?" Hisana blinked, confused. "Oh…the pizza. Right. You like cold pizza anyways, doubt I'll take your word on that one."

Rukia smirked as she flopped down at the table, taking a bite of her pizza. "I guess I know who to mention next time you're yelling at me for something. 'Oh Nee-san, before I forget, Kuchiki-sama called today—'"

"Hush!" Hisana grabbed the roll of paper towel on the counter and tossed them at Rukia, who laughed as she caught them and set them aside.

"You really like him, don't you?" Rukia sounded honestly curious now. Hisana sighed as she took a slice of her own and put on her plate, going over to sit down as well. It really _didn't_ need to be warmed up…

"Just eat your pizza, Rukia. Did you do your homework?"

"Yeah, I went to the library with Momo-san after school and got it all done. Don't avoid the question. Do you like Kuchiki-sama?"

"Do you know how to mind your own business?" Hisana retorted, taking a bite of her slice. "Honestly Rukia, I don't poke into every aspect of _your_ personal life—"

"You would if I _had_ one." Hisana considered this for a moment.

"All right…yeah, probably." Rukia rolled her eyes again. "_Fine_. I like him. Quite a bit, actually. Are you happy?"

"Depends. If you two get married, are you going to kick me out?"

"We've only been on two dates!" Hisana said, exasperated. "Why are you asking such ridiculous questions?"

"Can you blame me for being curious? Hey, how ironic would it be if you kicked me out, and I ended up being your next foster case?"

"How _shocking_ would it be if you shut up for two seconds?" Hisana retorted. Rukia shrugged.

"Pretty shocking I think, you seem determined to believe I talk too much…"

"Exhibit A." Hisana held out a hand, pretending to be presenting Rukia to an invisible audience. Rukia smiled as she slapped Hisana's hand away, finishing off the last of her slice.

"I'm going up to my room," she said as she stood and went over to get another slice of pizza, "give you some privacy so you can call your _boyfriend_."

"That's it, stay in your room for the night!" Hisana called after Rukia as the girl ran out, laughing. The older woman smiled, running a hand through her raven hair. As soon as she heard Rukia's bedroom door close, she stood up and grabbed the phone, dialing the already familiar number.

Someone picked up after two rings. "_Hello_?"

"Hello, Kuchiki-sama? It's Hisana…"

* * *

"There is not _one_ family willing to take this poor kid," Hisana sighed as she set down the phone, crossing the last foster family off the list she'd made earlier.

"Is that Kurosaki?" Misa asked, looking up from the case-file she'd been reading. Hisana nodded. "He's with Shunsui and Nanao right now, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but he can't just stay there for the next two years. I have to find a family willing to take him." _Not that it matters_, Hisana added silently, thinking of what Rukia had pointed out last night. The boy was unhappy no matter _where_ he was sent. He always ended up running away. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him. Next stop is the correctional facility — I'd really like to keep him out of there though, if it's possible."

"Why?" Misa sounded confused. "Clearly regular homes aren't working if he just keeps running away. Maybe barbed wire and large brick walls will do him some good. They'll keep him still, at any rate. You spend more time on his case than you do on any of the others you work, don't you think maybe it's time to just put him on the back burner?"

"Absolutely _not_," Hisana said firmly, opening the foster family list on her computer and trying to find one she hadn't already called. She'd been on Kurosaki Ichigo's case for five years. She was _not_ giving up now.

"Hey Hisana, did you ever think maybe your sensitive about this case because you have a sister his age?" Hisana didn't answer. "Just something to think about. Anyone else would have already given up on him, you know."

Yeah, she knew. Which was _exactly_ why Hisana refused to.

"What are you going to do if you can't find a family willing to take him?" Misa asked. It was a very good question. Hisana wished she had an answer.

* * *

"Hey, hey, Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo looked down at Shinji. The nine-year-old boy was sitting on the floor of their temporarily shared room, working on a puzzle. "Will you help me?"

"Sure," Ichigo sighed, slipping off his bed and onto the floor, curling his legs under him. "What do you need help with, Shinji?"

"Well I can't really figure out where this piece goes…"

Ichigo helped Shinji construct the puzzle, a little jealous of the boy's obvious innocence. He'd been in the system for a year now, but it didn't seem to have robbed him of anything. Not yet, at any rate.

"Oh, and this piece goes here!" Shinji grinned as he placed the last piece into the puzzle at long last. "Hey, it's a dog!" He giggled happily. "That's a Labrador. My daddy and I used to own a Labrador, he was my daddy's helping dog. His name was Spark, he was really cute. Daddy still has him, they're both living at that helping place together now. I went to see him the other day before I came here, he seemed really happy there. I wish I could go live with him too."

Shinji sounded slightly wistful now. Ichigo reached out, patting the boy's floppy brown hair. "I'm sorry you can't live with him," he said quietly. Shinji shrugged.

"S'Okay. When I'm here, Nanao-san brings me to see him. And the families I've lived with have been all right." The boy had only had two families so far. "Maybe I'll get to go see him again before Ryoko-sama finds me another family—"

"Did I hear my name?" Shinji and Ichigo looked over their shoulders at the man standing in the door of their room. Shinji smiled.

"Hi Ryoko-sama."

Shinji's social worker knelt down beside the boy, patting his head. "Sorry to burst your bubble buddy, but I've got another family for you to go. You'll have to wait a bit to see your dad again."

"That's okay," Shinji sighed as he stood up to start packing his few belongings. Ichigo watched him with a bit of pity. He couldn't imagine how hard it must have been on him, knowing his father was still alive, but he couldn't see him all the time.

"Are you going to a new family too, Kurosaki-kun?" Shinji asked as he packed his clothes.

"I'm not holding my breath," Ichigo muttered. He wished Hisana all the luck God could give her on finding a family willing to take _him_.

"What?"

"I don't know, Shinji," Ichigo raised his voice so Shinji could here. "We'll see what happens."

"Oh." Shinji zipped his bag, tossing it over his shoulder. "Ready to go, Ryoko-sama."

"All right, it's a bit of a drive, so lets hit the road." Ryoko rested a hand on Shinji's shoulder as the two of them started to leave.

"Bye Kurosaki-kun!" Shinji called over his shoulder.

"See ya." Ichigo sighed as he stood up, stretching. Shinji was a decent kid. He'd be surprised if an adoption offer didn't come up eventually.

Ichigo flopped back on his bed, curling his arms under his head and staring at his ceiling. He wondered if Hisana _was_ having any luck…

_I _could_ just run away from here_, he thought idly, looking out the window. It was hard, trying to escape Nanao's watchful eye, but not completely impossible. He'd done it once, though it had resulted in his shortest runaway stint — a grand total of two weeks and five days.

It probably wasn't worth waiting for Hisana to find another family. No one was going to take him, not with _his_ record. It was more than likely he'd end up in juvie within the next week. And Ichigo was _not_ going there.

_She's got until tomorrow_, Ichigo decided finally, closing his eyes. _If she can't find a family by then, I'm outta here_.

"Kurosaki-kun."

Well speak of the devil. Ichigo opened his eyes and sat up to face Hisana, who was standing in the door of the room. "Well that was fast." He said, running a hand through his spiky orange hair. "So where am I going this time?"

Hisana gave him a long, hard look. "There is not _one_ family," she said slowly, "left in this system that's willing to take you." That was certainly no surprise. "I need to figure out a way to get a good mark on your record. _One_ good home. It's the only way any family will even _consider_ taking you."

"How are you going to do that if no one will take me in the first place?"

It was a challenge. He was so sure Hisana wouldn't have a response…

"You're going to be living with me for the next month." Ichigo's mouth dropped.

"Um…_what_?"

Ichigo was surprised to see an almost smirk on Hisana's face. "Something wrong with your ears, Kurosaki-kun? The only way I'm going to get any kind of decent marks on your record is to find a home willing to take you. And as it stands, _I'm_ the only home willing to take you anymore."

"Is that even _allowed_?"

"Well the paper work is filled out and stamped and signed and filed. You are officially under _my_ guardianship, Kurosaki-kun. At least for the next month."

"And what if I decide I don't want to go?" Ichigo asked slowly.

"Then the next stop for you is the correctional facility. If you'd rather go there, be my guest." Ichigo stared blankly at Hisana. This felt like blackmail. "So what'll it be, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo sighed. Like he had a choice. "I'll pack my stuff," he muttered, kneeling down and pulling his bag out from under his bed. Most of his belongings were still packed; only a couple of things had found there way out of his bag in the one night he'd been there.

"That's what I thought." Hisana was smiling now. "So lets talk ground rules. Ten o'clock curfew on the weekdays, midnight on the weekends. If you decide you want to break it, I'm not above calling in favors to certain cop friends. And I realize that isn't much of a threat to you, so I'm just going to make it a statement. I'm not going to _force_ you to help with the cleaning or anything — Rukia seems to get a certain enjoyment out of all of that anyways, she probably won't want help—"

"Who?" Ichigo demanded, straightening up and throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Oh, my little sister. I'm her legal guardian, you'll probably see quite a bit of her around, she doesn't get out much. She usually does the cleaning and all that. I do, however, reserve the right to send you out once in awhile to pick up groceries at the store on the corner. I expect you to go to school every day, and I expect you to get all your homework done at night. Skipping not tolerated. Any questions?"

"Is it too late to change my mind?"

Hisana rolled her eyes, smiling. "Let's get going, shall we?"

Ichigo sighed as he followed Hisana out of the room. He had a distinct feeling he was going to regret this.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So...yup. Not much to say about this one. Review please? I'd really like opinions - Sam


	3. A New Home

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**III. A New Home**_

"Home sweet home." Hisana said as she led Ichigo into the house. Ichigo looked around the small living room. There was a small entertainment center tucked under the window to the right of the door, with a TV sitting on it. A couch ran along the wall to the right of the TV, and an armchair in the middle of the room. It was almost a…_quaint_ little room.

"Rukia should be home in about an hour." Hisana said, looking at her watch. "Let's get you settled in before she gets here, shall we?"

Ichigo followed Hisana through the tiny house, surprised by how…_homey_ it seemed. There were pictures all over the place, most likely of Hisana's family. The most prominent figures in all the pictures were two girls, one a younger looking version of the other. Hisana and her sister, Ichigo assumed.

"And this is your room." Hisana led Ichigo into a room off the kitchen. "Sorry it's kind of small, we don't have guests that often."

It was better than _some _of the places Ichigo could remember staying in. "It's fine." He said shortly, tossing his bag onto the bed. Then, because he thought he should be polite, "thank you."

"Of course." Hisana smiled gently. "We're mostly a fast food house, never trust Rukia around a stove, and I'm usually working late for one reason or another. Pizza and take-out are a lot of the diet around here."

"Better than nothing." Ichigo muttered as he looked around.

"That's true." Hisana agreed evenly. "Come on, I'll show you the upstairs."

They walked upstairs in silence, and Ichigo found himself standing in a narrow hallway, facing four closed doors. "My room, Rukia's room, that's kind of our storage room, it's filled to the ceiling with junk, otherwise I'd put you in there…and bathroom." Hisana pointed to each door as she spoke. Ichigo looked around the hall. Like the downstairs, this place was littered with pictures. Clearly Hisana and her sister were very family oriented people.

"And I think that's it, it's a pretty small house. Basement is off the living room, nothing down there though but some boxes and a couple of mouse families, we don't go down there if we can help it. Any questions?"

Ichigo shook his head silently. Hisana smiled again. "Well then, how about a late lunch? Nanao said you didn't eat anything today…"

"I'm not really that hungry." Ichigo muttered as he made his way back downstairs. Hisana didn't stop him as he went into his room, closing his door behind him.

* * *

"You want to come over and study?" Rukia asked as her and Hinamori turned down the street they both lived on.

"Can't, I have to babysit." Hinamori shrugged. "Hey, isn't that your sister's car?"

Rukia turned to look at her house. And sure enough, there was her sister's car in the driveway. "Weird." Rukia made a face. "Wonder what she's doing home…"

"Better go find out. I'll see you later, Rukia-san."

"Bye Momo-san." Rukia continued down the street as Momo turned up her driveway to her house, continuing to puzzle over what _possible_ reason her sister had to be home _this_ early.

"Let me guess — you snapped and killed a kid, and the cops are going to be breaking down our door any second to arrest you."

"Ha-ha." Hisana rolled her eyes. Rukia smiled as she slipped off her shoes, kicking them into a corner.

"So what _are_ you doing home? I mean, it's barely after four."

"Good to see that education of yours isn't being wasted." Hisana set aside the book she'd been reading and stood up, stretching. "I need to talk to you."

"I hate those words." Rukia sighed as she crossed the room, flopping down in the armchair. "What's going on? You…_didn't_ kill anyone, did you? Because I'm not harboring a fugitive—"

"Oh hush Rukia." Hisana sat back down, folding her hands in her lap. "There's this boy…one of the cases I work—"

"Lemme guess — the runaway one that you just had to go deal with last night?"

"Good guess. Anyways, I couldn't find a foster home willing to take him, not with his record—" Rukia had a sudden flashback to the litter of puppies Hisana had rescued and hidden in her closet when she was sixteen.

"Don't tell me—"

"He's going to be staying with us for a month." Hisana interrupted before Rukia could beg her not to tell her that very information. "I just need one good mark on his record to get a family to think about taking him…"

All Rukia could think to do was stare. "You're kidding…right?" Hisana shook her head slowly. "Nee-san…"

"It's only for a month." Hisana cut in quickly. "Just one month, Rukia, you can live with that, right? He's not _really_ that much of a troublemaker he just doesn't like to sit still, is all."

"So what makes you think he's going to stay _here_?"

"I'm not thinking it so much as _hoping_ for it…" Rukia raised an eyebrow at Hisana, who shrugged nonchalantly. "Call it good faith. So you'll give this a chance, then?"

"I feel like I don't have much of a choice." Rukia sighed as she pushed herself up, grabbing her bag off the floor. "I'm going to do my homework, call me when supper's ready."

"Sure." Hisana watched Rukia disappear into the kitchen, feeling a bit relieved. That had been easier than she'd thought it would be…

Rukia stopped as she walked past the open guest room door. Might as well acquaint herself with their new guest…

She peaked into the room, her eyes falling on the boy sprawled out across the bed. His bright orange hair stood out against the dark green pillow case his head was currently laying against, and his face was twisted into an unmistakable scowl, though he was clearly asleep. Rukia's eyes swept over him quickly, taking in the tattered state of his clothes and wondering why Hisana hadn't already tried to talk him into something a little nicer…

"Anyone ever teach you it's rude to stare?"

Rukia jumped a mile as the boy spoke, his voice gruff. His eyes opened, and he sat up to face Rukia, who recovered quickly from her shock.

"Anyone ever teach _you_ it's not nice to _scare_ people?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him. He shrugged, looking away from her.

"You started it." Rukia huffed, annoyed.

"I just thought I'd be polite and say hello, but if you're going to act like that—"

"Well I have yet to actually hear you _say_ hello, so yeah, I'm gonna act 'like that.'"

Well he had her there. "Fine." She conceded, still annoyed. "Hello. My name's Rukia."

"There, now was that so hard?" If looks could have killed, he would have been dead on the ground.

"You know, _usually_ when someone tells you their name, the right answer is to follow up with _your_ name."

"Usually, yeah." The boy smirked. Rukia wondered if he was getting enjoyment out of winding her up. "The name's Kurosaki Ichigo. Nice to meet you."

"If only I could say the same." Rukia muttered. It was going to be one _damn_ long month…

Ichigo's smirk tightened as he watched the girl — Rukia — walk away. He was pretty sure she already hated him — and he was completely okay with that. Maybe if he could annoy her enough, she'd beg her sister to kick him out, which just would have been _so_ much better than simply running away…

"Making friends, I see." Ichigo's head jerked up, and he saw Hisana standing in the door of his room. "Word of warning: you don't want Rukia as an enemy. She's not a pleasant person to have angry at you."

"Like I care." Ichigo muttered, rolling his eyes. "Besides, what's a midget like her going to do to me, exactly?"

The smile Hisana gave Ichigo was almost pitying. "Well, can't say I didn't warn you…" She shrugged as she turned and walked away. The words _could_ have been threatening, if Ichigo actually believed the tiny girl he'd just been talking _actually_ could have done anything to him.

But at that moment, he wasn't really worried.

* * *

"All right class, listen up. We have a new student joining us today." Rukia's head snapped up at the words _new student_.

_Please, please, _please_ don't tell me_…

And there he was. Standing at the front of the room, his hands shoved into the pockets of his pants, looking entirely uncomfortable. "This is Kurosaki Ichigo. I'm sure you'll all make him feel welcome."

"Rukia-san, you're catching flies." Hinamori whispered to Rukia, who instantly shut her mouth. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing." Rukia muttered, turning to look at her desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ichigo sit down at a seat a couple rows over from her.

"He's kind of scary looking, huh?" Hinamori asked quietly, cocking her head. "And what's with the hair, anyways? He dye it that color?"

"He's not scary." Rukia promised as she picked up her pencil to begin taking notes. "Just annoying."

"Do you know him?" Hinamori asked curiously.

"I'll explain later."

The night before had pretty much been a washout. Rukia had left the sanctuary of her room once, to eat supper, which had been mostly silent. Hisana had tried to initiate conversation with both the teens sitting at the table, failing miserably each time she made an attempt. Finally she had let silence fall, realizing she was going nowhere fast. Rukia had all but run back to her room as soon as she was done eating, had even skipped breakfast and left early that morning all for the sake of avoiding this infuriating boy…

And now here he was. Sitting in her class. Leaning back in his chair looking completely disinterested in anything going on around him.

Fate could be really cruel sometimes.

"Rukia-san aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm not hungry." Rukia sighed, closing her eyes. She was laying back on the grass, her hands curled under her head, staring up at the sky.

"That doesn't mean it's okay to skip meals…does it?" Hinamori took a moment to puzzle over that. "Anyways, how do you know that boy — Kurosaki-kun, was it?"

"He's a foster kid, my sister is his social worker." Hinamori fell back on the grass next to Rukia, looking up at the sky as well.

"That one looks like a bunny." She smiled as she pointed up at the clouds above them. Rukia opened her eyes, smiling as well when she saw the bunny-shaped cloud.

"I guess there wasn't a foster home left in the area that would take him, because he has such a bad record." Hinamori twisted her head to look at Rukia, concern clear in her deep brown eyes. "From what Nee-san said, he's not a troublemaker or anything, he just doesn't like being in the system, he runs away a lot. But nobody really wants to deal with that, I guess. Anyways, he's staying with us for a month, Nee-san's trying to get a good mark on his record so she can get a family to consider taking him."

"How sad." Hinamori sighed, rolling over onto her stomach and tucking her arms together, resting her chin on top of them. "That must be really hard, knowing nobody wants you."

"He does it to himself," Rukia argued, craning her neck to look up at Hinamori. "Wait a minute, you don't feel _sorry_ for him, do you?"

"I dunno…maybe." Hinamori shrugged. "I just can't imagine knowing there's _no one_ in the world that wants you."

Well when she put it like that…Rukia turned her eyes back to the sky. It _did_ sound like a rotten prospect…

"He makes it pretty easy not to like him. Talk to him for five minutes, you'll understand."

"Maybe…" Hinamori didn't sound so sure. "Usually people who are like that are just afraid though, you know? They've been hurt so much, they don't trust anyone anymore. So they put on that front to make people not like them."

Rukia didn't answer. The clouds rolled by slowly, mesmerizing her, and momentarily allowing her to lose herself in a pool of rather unwanted memories.

"Rukia-san…Rukia-san." She jumped as Hinamori poked her room, dragging her back to reality. "You okay? You looked a little lost for a minute."

"Fine." Rukia pushed herself up into a sitting position, pushing back a strand of stray hair behind her ear. Hinamori was right. As much as she hated to admit it…Hinamori was _really_ right.

She couldn't just content herself to being annoyed with Kurosaki Ichigo. Not when she knew exactly where he was coming from.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So what'd you think of the Ichigo and Rukia interaction? Personally, I was giggling a lot when I wrote it. The two of them are very antagonistic, huh? Anyways, review and let me know what you think! — Sam


	4. Black and White

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**IV. Black and White**_

"Don't you have homework to do?"

Ichigo shifted his head to look at Rukia, who was standing in the door of his room, looking just a bit annoyed. He shrugged, turning his attention back to the wall in front of his bed, and tossing the rubber ball he'd been throwing for the last hour. No doubt _that_ was what had attracted Rukia's attention; it was probably very annoying…

"Yeah, I probably do. So what?"

He heard Rukia huff as he threw the ball again. Just as he was about to reach out and catch it, a small hand snatched it mid-air. "Hey!" Ichigo protested at once, sitting up to glare at Rukia, who rested one hand on her hip, tossing the ball lazily into the air with the other.

"If you don't want to do your own work, fine, I don't care. But you're _not_ distracting me from my work. You can have this back when I'm done." She turned and started to leave.

"Who died and left _you_ in charge?" Ichigo demanded, jumping up and diving at the hand holding his ball. Rukia dodged nimbly out of the away, as if she had seen him coming. "And give me the damn ball back!"

"I already told you, didn't I?" There was a teasing note in Rukia's voice as she turned to look at Ichigo; her violet eyes were sparkling evilly. "You can have the ball back when I finish my homework."

"And how long is _that_ going to take?" Ichigo asked angrily as he made another attempt for the ball. Rukia stepped back until she was out of his reach.

"The longer you sit here arguing with me, the longer it'll take."

_Go to hell_, Ichigo was tempted to say. He _could_ have said it; clearly him and Rukia weren't going to get along, there would be no harm in saying anything that would only make her hate him more. But he bit his tongue anyways.

"Maybe while you don't have _this_," Rukia tossed the ball again as she spoke; it barely left her hand, giving Ichigo no chance to grab it back for himself, "you could consider doing your own homework too. Just a thought," she added as Ichigo snorted. Had she _really_ just suggested that?

"Why bother? Sooner or later I'm just going to go another foster home and transfer to another school. None of the work I do _here_ is going to matter," Ichigo paused for a minute before adding, "not that _you_ would know what's that like."

Rukia's eyes darkened as Ichigo spoke. "Pretend I'm playing you a sad song on the world's smallest violin," she snapped, suddenly sounding more annoyed than she had when she'd originally walked into the room. "Do whatever you want. Like I said before, I don't care."

She stalked out without another word, leaving a rather bewildered Ichigo in her wake. _What the hell's _her_ problem?_ He wondered as he sat back down on the mattress, leaning back so he was staring at the ceiling. Five seconds ago she'd been teasing him, and acting like she could almost stand to have him around…

_Whatever_, he decided all at once that he really didn't care. Rukia was going to hate him no matter what he did. There was no point in bothering himself over all of her little mood-swings.

He wasn't going to be around much longer anyways.

* * *

Hisana had made one big mistake, giving Ichigo a room on the ground floor; she'd made his grand escape _so_ much easier for him.

Ichigo shoved the window open, leaning out and looking around. It was late; there was nobody on the street, and the lights in the neighbors' houses were all off. Nobody would see Ichigo leave.

His feet had barely touched the ground when…

"Going somewhere?"

Ichigo jumped a mile, his head snapping up, looking all around for the source of the voice.

"Up here, fool."

He looked up. "What in the…what are you _doing_ up there?"

"Just contemplating the meaning of life," Rukia shot back sarcastically. "I'm _sitting_, what does it _look_ like I'm doing?"

"On the roof? After midnight?"

"Well what are _you_ doing, exactly?" Ichigo didn't answer. "Not so much fun being on the hot-seat, is it Strawberry?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the raven-haired girl, pointedly ignoring what she'd just called him. "How did you get up there?"

"I flew." Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her. "If you crawl out my window you can grab on to the rafters and pull yourself up here. Why, you wanna try?"

"Che," Ichigo made a noise in the back of his throat. "I'll pass, thank you. I was just on my way out, actually."

"Yeah, noticed that. Where exactly are you going?"

"Since when do I have to answer to you?" Ichigo shot back. He was beginning to get annoyed. The more they kept up this stupid conversation, the more of a chance they had of waking somebody — somebody like _Hisana_.

"I don't know, but you seem to be standing here answering to me right now. I'm not exactly sure when it started." Ichigo bristled. _Damn _she was infuriating…

"All right, whatever. I'm leaving."

"What is it with you?" Rukia called after him as he started towards the street. "You've got a good home here, somebody that'll take care of you, a roof to have over your head. Why would you want to just run away?"

"Nobody's going to take care of me," Ichigo answered, looking over his shoulder even as he kept walking. "That's one of those rules of life you have to try and learn. The only person you can ever depend on is yourself."

"Nee-san has always been pretty dependable to me."

"Well good for you—"

"She's always been dependable to _you_, too." _That_ stopped Ichigo in his tracks. "Think about it. Every time you run away from your foster homes, she always makes sure there's _someone_ looking for you. She's never left you at the police station after they've picked you up; she's always right there bringing you to the group home, or to another foster home. And look at this: the one time she couldn't find anyone to take you, _she_ took you in. All that spells dependable to me."

"Yeah right."

Rukia shrugged. Ichigo noticed, the entire time she'd been speaking, she'd never once looked at him, choosing instead to stare at the stars.

"I'm just saying. You're lucky. Not everyone gets a social worker like yours."

Something rang strangely in her voice. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her. "What do _you_ know?"

"Two plus two is four, the sky is blue, grass is green, your hair is _unnaturally_ bright—"

"Ha. Ha." In the light of the moon, Ichigo saw Rukia smirk.

"You never answered my question. Why do you always run away?" Ichigo didn't answer. "Are you waiting for someone?"

The orange-haired teen raised an eyebrow, confused. "_Waiting_?"

"Yeah. Sometimes when kids run away really good foster homes, it's because they're waiting for someone to rescue them from the system, and they're afraid to get comfortable in home because if they get comfortable, and the parents start to really like them, they'll be adopted."

She sounded very knowledgeable. "Your sister has told you quite a bit, hasn't she?"

"I've heard a few things," she admitted. "That's not the point though. _Is_ that why you run away?"

"Not a chance," Ichigo said at once. "Nobody's going to bother themselves rescuing _me_. And I wouldn't depend on them to anyways."

"Oh right, you don't depend on people. So then why? I mean, I get running away from the bad homes — the places that don't care about you and are clearly only in it for the money, I mean. But not all of them are like that. Some of them legitimately care."

"Sure," Ichigo rolled his eyes. She sure had some far-fetched ideas about what the world was like. "I'll hold out for a family like that."

"Fine then _oh wise_ _one_," Rukia's voice was _dripping_ with sarcasm. "How about you just grace me with an answer to my original question and then be on your way. Why do you always run away?"

Ichigo didn't answer for a moment. "I thought it'd be obvious by now. You can't depend on anyone to take care of you. I'm not about to put my hopes into some foster family just to have them throw me out in the end. It's not worth it."

"So you leave first," Rukia guessed.

"The only person in this world you can depend on is yourself. You just have to know when to leave."

"So…you're leaving after two days here…why?"

"Because your sister's wasting her time. Even if she _can_ find a family to take me after this month, it's all going to end the same the same. I'm just saving everyone a lot of trouble."

"You _cause_ more trouble every time you run away," Rukia informed Ichigo as he turned his back again. "Not everything is as black and white as you like to think, you know. There're all these grey areas that you have to learn to find. Sometimes they even turn out to be better than the black and white. If you'd just learn to sit still, I bet you could find a place to be happy — and _yes_, God forbid, _maybe_ learn to depend on someone other than your precious self."

"What do _you_ care what I do?" Ichigo snapped, whirling around again. She _still_ wasn't looking at him — and for some reason, that annoyed him quite a bit. She could at least _focus_ on him while she tried to run his life. "This is just some kind of stupid game to you, isn't it? Going to try and fix the broken foster kid?"

"I don't care what you do at all," Rukia replied easily, not at all put off by his sarcastic comments. "It's your life, live it the way you want. I just think that the way you're living it right now is destroying you faster than just about anything else you could do. Maybe if you gave yourself a chance, you'd see that everything doesn't _have_ to be the way it is. You could have a different life — if you wanted."

"For someone who doesn't care, you sure seem to have a lot to say."

"And for someone who was all jumped up to leave, you don't seem to be moving too fast to get out of here." Ichigo didn't have an answer to that. "Anyways, it's late. _I'm_ going to bed. Sorry to hold you up for so long, I'll leave you to your running away. Good night, Ichigo."

And with that she crawled to the edge of the roof, grabbing the edge and swinging off, letting go when her feet touched the window sill, and she jumped inside, leaving Ichigo standing in the middle of the yard feeling a bit like an idiot.

_Don't depend on anyone_. The words Ichigo had lived by for the last seven years of his life. His first experiences in the foster system had taught him one thing: nobody cared about him. Nobody wanted him. Nobody was going to take care of him. He was on his own.

Nothing Rukia said, nothing she _thought_ she knew, could ever change what Ichigo had learned. She was just prattling on, really. What could _she_ possibly know about the foster system, besides what her precious sister had told her? There was no way she could ever understand where Ichigo was coming from.

_I don't need this_, Ichigo decided as he turned and walked away, making it to the street at last. He hadn't _wanted_ to come here in the first place. Having to deal with Hisana's annoying, _all-knowing_ sister wasn't something Ichigo was in the mood for.

_"You _cause_ more trouble every time you run away…"_

Well that wasn't his problem. He didn't tell Hisana or the cops to look for him, they caused that grief all on their own. He would have been just as happy if they all just left him alone and went on with their lives.

_"Not everything is as black and white as you like to think, you know…"_

Except it really was. Black: nobody was going to take care of Ichigo. White: he couldn't depend on anyone but himself.

_"Nee-san has always been pretty dependable to me…She's always been dependable to _you_, too."_

…

_"…so you're Ichigo."_

_The boy lifted his eyes to look at the woman standing over him. She smiled when their eyes connected. "My name is Hisana, Ichigo. I'm going to be your social worker from now on. I'm going to do everything I can to find a new home for you to live in. Does that sound okay to you?"_

…

_"Really Kurosaki-kun, this is the third home you've run away from. What's going on?"_

_"I don't wanna go to anymore foster homes!" The woman sighed, resting a hand on the thirteen-year-old boy's shoulder._

_"I know, buddy. Hey, why don't we stop and see your sisters before I take you to Kyoraku-kun's?" He stopped to consider this for a minute._

_"Fine," he ceded finally, turning his amber eyes up to Hisana, who smiled gently._

_"Lets' go then…"_

Ichigo stopped walking. He was at the end of the street now. He raised his eyes to look at the street sign, scowling.

_Damn it!_ He kicked the pole angrily. Damn, _damn_ Rukia…was it _completely_ necessary that she be right?

_"If you'd just learn to sit still, I bet you could find a place to be happy — and _yes_, God forbid, _maybe_ learn to depend on someone other than your precious self."_

Yup. Ichigo _definitely_ didn't like her.

* * *

"Good morning Kurosaki-kun," Hisana gave the teen a bright smile as he walked out of his room, rubbing his head. Hisana looked like she was on her way out the door. "There's cereal in the cabinet if you're hungry."

"Morning Ichigo."

Ichigo scowled at Rukia, who was giving him a smile of her own — except with her sister's back turned, it was more of a smirk than anything else.

"See you guys later!" Hisana called over her shoulder as she made her way out the door. Rukia raised an eyebrow at Ichigo, who continued to scowl at her.

"What's with the look?"

"You're a pest, you know that right?"

"Well that's quite rude. Wasn't it _you_ was lecturing _me_ on manners the other day?" Ichigo didn't answer. Rukia smiled as she stood up, taking her bowl and walking over to the sink. "Anyways I didn't do anything to you. I just stated my opinion and went to bed, what you decided to do after that was your choice and your choice alone. You could have walked away, I wasn't doing anything to stop you."

"…You're _really_ a pest."

Rukia stopped to consider this for a minute. "Yeah, I've been told. Anyways if you're not eating than lets go, I'm supposed to meet Momo-san to help her with the homework."

"Yeah, yeah…" Ichigo sighed as he followed Rukia to the door. "Hey, can I have my ball back yet?"

"Maybe this afternoon after I finish my work."

"But you said—"

"Should've asked for it _yesterday_."

"I forgot—"

"Not my problem."

Ichigo flexed his fingers a couple of times, resisting the urge to wrap them around her neck.

It was _definitely_ going to be a _long_ month.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I've decided I enjoy writing this story _way_ too much. Is there a law against that? God I hope not… XD Anyways, review? Please? — Sam


	5. Under the Stars

_And I've lost who I am_

_And I can't understand_

_Why my heart is so broken_

_Rejecting your love...There's a light_

_There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones_

_To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**V. Under The Stars**_

"I _hate_ math," Momo groaned as she threw her pencil down, clearly annoyed. "I am _never_ going to use this in my life, why do I need to know it?"

"Because they want you to," Rukia replied, picking her friend's pencil up and handing it to her. "Come on, what do you need help with?"

She leaned over to look at Momo's notebook. The paper was covered in pencil marks and scribble-outs where Momo had realized she'd messed up. "Momo-san that's what erasers are for. Here," Rukia turned to a clean page of the notebook, "let's just start over. What problem were you working on?"

"I don't even remember anymore…"

After a few minutes of scouring the last page Momo had been working on, and examining her textbook, Rukia figured out where the poor girl had left off and set to work on helping her figure out exactly _where_ she'd messed up before.

"_Why_ do I need to know what n equals?" Momo complained unhappily as Rukia carefully walked her through the problem.

"Because that's what the problem is asking for," the raven-haired teen explained as if it were the most natural answer in the world.

"Why do I need to know _how_ to find what n equals?"

"Because that's how you solve the problem."

"When am I _ever_ going to use this in real life?"

"Never."

The girls bit their lips to keep from laughing. Loud noises were frowned upon in the library. And neither of their houses were really ideal for doing schoolwork in: Momo's had a bunch of little kids running around, and Rukia's had…well, Ichigo. They last thing either of them needed was to be kicked out of the library for being too loud.

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life in high school math, aren't I?" Momo asked, disheartened, as they left the library. The sun was just beginning to set as the started down the sidewalk towards home.

"Probably just the next twenty or so years," Rukia assured the girl, resting a hand on her slim shoulder.

"Thanks Rukia-san."

The two laughed quietly as they walked. "So how're things going at your house, anyways?" Momo asked after a moment of silence. "Any more run away attempts?"

"Actually, no. He's being very well-behaved. It's only been five days though. I'm sure he'll get bored eventually."

"Don't sound too eager Rukia-san," the raven-haired girl cringed a bit. "I thought you said you were going to give him a chance?"

"Yeah," Rukia sighed, her eyes focusing on the ground. "It's just…_hard_. He makes it so _difficult_ to like him. He doesn't _want_ anybody to like him. He doesn't care."

"Since when do you quit so easily?" Rukia didn't answer for a long time.

"Momo-san?"

"Yes Rukia-san?"

"Stop making so much sense."

Momo laughed.

* * *

The sound of the front door closing mingled with the sound of the phone ringing, jerking Ichigo awake. "I'll get it!" Rukia called as Ichigo rubbed his eyes, sitting up. "Hello…oh, Kuchiki-sama, hi…no, Nee-san isn't here right now, she'll probably be home soon though…yeah sure, I can take a message…"

Ichigo sighed, falling back on his pillow. "Working hard or hardly working?" He craned his neck to look up at Rukia, who was standing in the door of his room, arms cross over her chest.

"_You_ work hard enough for five people," he informed her as he looked away again, closing his eyes.

"And you're _lazy_ enough for five people."

"So I guess it all evens out."

Ichigo smirked as he heard Rukia huff in annoyance. "I should have just let you leave," she muttered, sounding thoroughly aggravated now.

"Then why didn't you?" Ichigo asked, opening his eyes again. Rukia shifted her own gaze to the ceiling, not answering for a moment.

"I don't know," she admitted finally. "I'm just stupid, I guess."

She turned and walked away without another word. Ichigo watched her retreating back, sure of two things. One, Rukia was _anything_ but stupid. And two, she was a _terrible_ liar.

Except…what reason would she have to lie?

* * *

"Do you sit up here _every_ night?"

Rukia jumped a mile, bolting up and turning her head to look over at Ichigo, who was peaking over the edge of the roof at her, most likely standing on her window sill. "What's it to you?" She asked, laying back down on the shingles, tucking her arms under her head. She heard Ichigo huff as he pulled himself completely onto the roof.

"Jeez, we're pretty high up…"

"Yeah, we're sitting on the _roof_, remember? And what do you want, exactly?" Ichigo didn't answer. Rukia sighed, closing her eyes and just trying to forget he was there.

"There's gotta be better places to sit than all the way up here," Ichigo said after a minute.

"Why don't you go find these places then?" Rukia suggested mildly, not turning her eyes away from the stars twinkling overhead. "Nobody asked you to come up here."

Again, no answer. Rukia rolled her eyes. Part of her wondered why he'd bothered to come all the way up here. Part of her wished he would go away. Most of her didn't care either way. "So why are you still here?" She asked after a moment, unable to let her curiosity go. "You were so gung-ho to leave three nights ago. Why the change?"

Ichigo didn't answer for a long time. Rukia raised her head enough to look at him; he was sitting a few feet away from her, his legs drawn up halfway to his chest, his arms resting on his knees. His eyes were turned up to the sky. "I still want to leave," he said finally, much to Rukia's surprise. She hadn't really been expecting him to answer. "I'm not good at sitting still. I hate it. And you're an absolute pain in the ass." Rukia grinned despite herself. "But as annoying as you are…you make a lot of good points."

"Do I?" Rukia laid her head back on her arms, staring at the stars again. "My bad, I really didn't mean to."

"Yeah, well, you do. And I hate it, but I'm not completely unreasonable either."

_Coulda fooled me_, Rukia thought, though she wasn't going to bother herself with saying it. She'd give the boy a chance to explain himself. "So exactly which part made you decide to stay?"

A few moments of silence. "Your sister _is_ one of the more decent social workers," Ichigo admitted finally. "And I…know she puts up with more from me than she really should."

"So…let me get this straight," Rukia said, sitting up to look at Ichigo in feigned awe, "you're actually _admitting_ that my sister is…_dependable_?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I'm _saying_ she puts up with more than she should. And besides…" His voice drifted off for a moment. "If it wasn't for her, I would have lost my sisters a long time ago."

"Sisters?" Rukia repeated, raising an eyebrow. Ichigo nodded slowly. His face was surprisingly solemn, devoid of his usual scowl.

"Yeah. Yuzu and Karin. They're…eleven now. Twins. Hisana-san was their social worker too, when we all entered the system. Yuzu and Karin were adopted by the first foster family that took them. They wanted a daughter, and when they saw the two of them together…they adopted both. They were lucky." His voice took on a bitter note with that last statement.

"Adopted with their first family?" Rukia confirmed in disbelief. "Lucky doesn't quite describe it."

Ichigo snorted. "She tried to get them to take me too, but they already had a son. They really only wanted one girl…it's just hard to see Yuzu without Karin, and vice-versa. Anyways, if it wasn't for Hisana-san, I'd never see them. But she worked it out with the family that took them, I'm allowed to go and see them whenever I want. They're living a few towns away from here now, the only way I ever get to see them is when Hisana drives me. Which she'll do basically whenever I ask."

"Sounds like a good deal."

"Yeah," Ichigo sighed, bowing his head so he was staring at the roof. "I haven't seen them in almost a year now. Hisana-san has offered to drive me over a lot, but I…don't want to see them."

"Why not?" Rukia asked, curious despite herself. She didn't _want_ to ask about his life, she didn't _want_ to be curious…

But apparently Ichigo thought he'd said too much. "Just haven't wanted to," he replied distantly. Rukia was almost glad he hadn't gone into an in-depth answer, though she didn't completely believe the answer he'd given. "So…" Ichigo said after a few moments of silence. "I told you something about me, only seems fair you return the favor, right?"

"What?" Rukia asked in disbelief. "Wait a minute, first of all you _volunteered_ that information, I didn't ask about it. Second, since when are we worrying about being _even_ with each other?"

"You asked _plenty_ of questions in the last ten minutes," Ichigo informed her mildly. "So I should get to ask _one_, don't you think?" Rukia responded with a glare.

"Fine," she answered finally. "Ask away."

Ichigo thought for a moment, though Rukia had a feeling the second he asked his question that it was one he'd been wondering about for awhile. "Where are your parents? There are plenty of pictures, obviously you guys were close…so why is it just you and your sister here?"

Rukia considered the question for about half a minute before she stood up, walking carefully towards the edge of the roof. "Hey, where are you going?" Ichigo demanded.

"To bed."

"What about my question?"

"I said you could _ask_ a question," Rukia reminded him as she knelt down, preparing to jump into her room through her open window. "I don't remember saying I would _answer_ the question. Have fun spending the night on the roof."

And with that she vaulted into her room. There was a small _thunk_ as she closed the window, and then a _click_. Ichigo's eyes widened. She'd locked him out of the house. "_Damn it_," he hissed under his breath, falling back on the roof. This girl was _really_ something else. And not in a good way.

_Now what I do?_ Ichigo wondered, annoyed, as he tucked his arms under his head, staring at the stars. He didn't really want to be stuck on the roof all night. His own window was unlocked, but of course that somehow involved getting down to the ground.

Ichigo sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the crumpled old picture that went everywhere with him. On the blank side, of course, was the list of foster families he'd run away from or been thrown out of. The side with the picture was what Ichigo really cared about.

Four smiling faces greeted Ichigo as he held the picture over his head. Two adults — one a tall, grinning male with spiky black hair and an obnoxiously colored shirt. The other adult was female with long, straw-blonde hair, smiling softly at the camera, her hands clasped in front of her. Of the three children, two of them were girls of about the same height, one with the same colored-hair as the male, one with the same color as the female. The two girls, clearly nothing more than toddlers were holding hands, giving the camera wide smiles that completely dominated their faces. The third child was older than the girls; a grinning boy with bright orange hair.

_"Daddy, Ichi-nii!"_

_The boy looked towards his sisters, only to have a ball whack him in the side of the head. "Can't take your eye off the ball boy!" His father called to him as he rubbed the wounded area._

_"Isshin, Ichigo, come over here, we're going to take a picture!"_

_The sound of his mother's voice motivated him to forget the pain in his head and move forward, running over to where she was standing with his sisters…_

Ichigo stared at the picture for a long time, his eyes drifting over the faces of his family. His parents, dead for seven years. His sisters, living their lives in a different town with a new family.

Then there was him. Unable to move on to the future.

And unable to let go of the past.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So…what are we thinking, good, bad? Review please, I'm interested to hear what you have to say! Also, if you happen to be an FMA fan, stop by my profile and check out my newest story, _Long Road Home_. But leave a review for this before you go, please and thank you! — Sam


	6. Knowing Each Other

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**VI. Knowing Each Other**_

"Why are you limping?" Rukia asked curiously as Ichigo hobbled out of his room the next morning. She was sitting in the kitchen, eating cereal, and giving Ichigo a way too innocent look.

"Why?" Ichigo repeated in disbelief. "_Why_? _Maybe_ because a certain midget _pest_ locked me out on the _roof_, and I had to jump down to the ground in order to get back inside, damn it!"

"Hmn…well, that sucks."

Ichigo growled under his breath. Why was she _so_ damn annoying? "Anyways, what are you up to today?" Rukia asked as she stood up, taking her empty bowl and going over to the sink. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her. Why the hell was she asking?

"I dunno. Just hanging around here, I guess. Why?"

Rukia hesitated for a moment, clearly reluctant to continue speaking. "Well…Momo-san and I were going to take her brother and sisters down to the lake today…and-I-was-wondering-if-you-wanted-to-come."

She rushed the question out quickly, her words just about blending together. Ichigo took a moment to dissect the statement, then raised a disbelieving eyebrow at the raven-haired girl. "Your sister put you up to this, didn't you?"

"No," Rukia defended herself at once. When Ichigo continued to stare at her, "fine, yes. But if I really didn't want to invite you, would I have?" Ichigo didn't have an answer to that. "Exactly. So…want to come? It's supposed to be nice out today, probably the last nice day we'll have before fall really sets in. And Momo-san's babysitting her siblings today, so she's going to take them swimming."

"Cute," Ichigo snorted. "As much fun as your little field trip sounds like, I think I'll pass, but thanks anyways."

"Your call," Rukia certainly didn't seem overly disappointed by the fact that he had declined. "Try not to burn down the house or anything, okay?"

"Shut up," Ichigo snapped, a bit more harshly than he'd intended. Rukia stared at him, as if trying to figure out what the reason behind his sudden mood change was, and finally she just shrugged, turning away and heading towards the stairs.

"I'm going to change. If Momo-san gets here can you let her in?"

"Yeah, sure," Ichigo muttered as he went to the cabinet and pulled out the box of cereal to pour himself a bowl. He'd barely sat down, though, when the sound of the doorbell being rung echoed through the house. "Figures," he grumbled under his breath, standing up and heading for the living room.

He vaguely recognized the brown-haired girl standing on the front step. He knew she was in his class at school, and she was practically Rukia's shadow, from what Ichigo had seen.

A small, round face peaked out from around Hinamori Momo's legs, large brown eyes looking up at Ichigo in interest. "Who're you?" The tiny boy piped. Hinamori smiled, resting a hand on the boy's jet black hair.

"His name is Ichigo. Remember, I told you guys Rukia-san had somebody staying with her and her sister for the next few weeks."

"Oh. Right." The boy turned to look at Ichigo again, squinting up at the teen. "How come your hair is orange? Are you in a gang?"

"_Makoto_!" Hinamori groaned, slapping her forehead. "Where do you learn this stuff?"

"Does it really matter where he learned it?" Another voice spoke up suddenly as a hand pressed itself over the boy's mouth. Ichigo's eyes shifted to the two brown-haired girls standing behind the boy; the older of the two was the one that had spoken and was currently covering the boy's mouth.

"I don't think it does," the second girl piped up. "You know, not that we had anything to do with it or anything."

"Yu_kiko_! Hush!"

Hinamori just shook her head, giggling. Ichigo stared at them, a bit bewildered, and finally just silently stepped aside, allowing the strange little group to walk inside. "Rukia will be down in a few," he muttered as he turned to go back to the kitchen.

"Are you coming with us too Ichigo-kun?" Makoto asked, grinning up at Ichigo. The orange-haired teen looked back at the boy, who was giving such a purely innocent, curious look.

"I don't…think so, no," he finally settled for saying.

"I think you should come with us," Makoto replied seriously. "It'll be lots of fun, I bet you've never been to the lake before, have you?"

"Makoto don't bother him," Hinamori scolded the boy lightly. "Maybe he has other plans today."

"Well if he doesn't, he should come with us," Makoto informed his sister before looking back at Ichigo. "It's lotsa fun, there's this cool rope tied to a tree near the water, and you can swing off the rope into the water, and I don't because it's too high up and it's really scary, but Ayame-nee-san and Momo-nee-san do, and Nee-chan does too, Yukiko-nee-san doesn't because it's too scary for her, just like me—"

"It is _not_ too scary!" Yukiko argued at once. "I just don't like using the rope, there's a big difference!"

"I can hear you guys up in my _room_ with the _door_ closed," an amused voice said suddenly. Ichigo looked over his shoulder just in time to see Rukia coming down the stairs, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, a tote bag strapped to her back.

"Hi Nee-chan!" Makoto, Yukiko, and Ayame chirped in one, rather loud voice. Rukia smiled as she walked over to them. So _she_ was Nee-chan. Of course.

"You guys ready to go?"

"Yup!" All three nodded at once, looking very eager. After a moment, Makoto turned to Ichigo.

"Are you _sure_ you don't want to come with us Ichigo-kun?"

And strangely enough, as Makoto looked up at him with large, hopeful eyes, Ichigo was reminded of Shinji, sitting on the floor of their shared room at the group home, looking up at Ichigo imploringly as he asked for help with his puzzle.

Ichigo sighed. "I…guess I could…if you guys don't mind."

"We don't mind!" The three kids said at once. Ichigo shifted his eyes to Rukia and Hinamori, who shrugged in unison.

"All right…just give me a minute to change…and get a towel—"

"I have an extra towel in my bag, you can use that." Ichigo raised an eyebrow at Rukia, who smiled just a little _too_ innocently. No doubt she'd anticipated him changing his mind.

Five minutes later Ichigo was changed into his swim trunks and a t-shirt, and following the others out of the house. The kids were laughing, chattering excitedly about how they couldn't wait to go swimming. The girls were walking behind the kids, keeping an eye on them and talking about who knew what. Ichigo walked behind all of them, staring at the ground the entire time.

They'd been walking for about twenty minutes when they turned onto a dirt road that led into a patch of woods. "Are we _there _yet?" Makoto was beginning to whine.

"Almost," Hinamori assured her brother, patting his head. "Just a little further now…"

It was almost a ten minute walk down the dirt road. "Don't go too far in!" Hinamori called as her siblings took off when the body of water came into view. Ichigo stopped for a moment to look around. It was a very quaint little place, he supposed. There were trees dotting the entire grassy area, and set off a little ways away from where Ichigo was standing was a small cliff jutting out into the water. A large tree stood on the very edge of this cliff, a rope tied to one of the sturdier branches.

While the kids ran into the water, Hinamori and Rukia went to sit under a tree, still talking. Ichigo followed them after a moment, his eyes still shifting around. There were only a few people here, taking advantage of the nice weather. Almost everyone was in the water.

"Nice, huh?" Hinamori asked when she saw Ichigo looking around.

"Typical," he replied shortly. Hinamori and Rukia raised an eyebrow at him.

"Meaning…?"

Meaning it was exactly what the kind of place Ichigo would expect a bunch of small town kids with perfect lives to hang out, with the grass and the water and the little cliff jutting out from the shore and the tree on the cliff with the rope tied to it that kids could swing into the water with…it was like something out of a book. So disgustingly typical. All that was missing was a dog for the kids to chase around.

Ichigo was sure it wouldn't be missing for long.

"Meaning it's typical," he repeated, flopping down against the tree near where Rukia and Hinamori had laid out their blanket.

"Hey Nee-san!" Makoto tackled Hinamori from behind, wrapping his arms around her neck and hugging her tightly.

"Ma_koto_!" Hinamori groaned, laughing. "Come on, you're all wet, I'm still wearing my clothes!"

"Lookit, Ayame-nee-san is going to use the rope!" The boy pointed eagerly to the second oldest of his sister's, who was running at the rope. She grabbed it, using the momentum to propel her off the cliff, and out over the water. She screamed in delight as she let go, hitting the water with a surprisingly loud _splash_.

"Come _on_!" Makoto whined, grabbing Hinamori's hand and trying to drag her up. "Come on Momo-nee-san, lets go, lets go, lets _go_!"

"All right, all right…" Hinamori sighed as she stumbled up, pulling off her shirt and shorts to reveal the dark blue bathing suit she was wearing underneath.

"_Yay_!" Makoto cheered, turning and running back to the water. Hinamori stopped long enough to pull her hair out of its bun, letting it fall in brown cascades around her shoulder. "You coming Rukia-san?"

"Nah, think I'll hang out up here for a little while," Rukia shrugged as she laid back on the blanket, curling her arms behind her head.

"All right, your choice," Hinamori shrugged before turning and running after her brother.

Ichigo closed his eyes, trying to block out the sounds of splashing water and laughter. He was beginning to wish he hadn't let himself be conned into coming.

"So what did you mean when you said this place was typical?" Rukia asked after a minute. Ichigo opened his eyes again and craned his neck down to look at her. She'd shifted her eyes to look at him.

"Typical can only mean a handful of things," Ichigo informed her, hoping that would be enough to shut her up.

"And considering it's a word that's longer than four letters I'm surprised you know even _one_ of those meanings." Ichigo bristled. Rukia smirked a bit. "Fine. Let me guess. You meant…that this place is typical because it's exactly the kind of place you would expect a bunch of small-town neighborhood kids to gather, and it's exactly like something you'd read about in a book about kids with a perfect life."

Ichigo's mouth, which had been slowly dropping the entire time Rukia had spoken, was now on the ground. "What…who…how…"

"When, where, why?" Rukia added to Ichigo's incoherent, unstrung sentence.

"Do you _have_ to know _everything_?" Ichigo asked angrily, leaning forward and jumping up. Rukia's eyes followed him, clearly uninterested. "You're such a god damn _know-it-all_, it's annoying!"

"I think it just bothers you that there's someone out there who understands what you're thinking." Ichigo glared silently at Rukia, unwilling to give her anything to work with. "You don't like that someone knows what's going on in your head, do you? It makes you feel…oh what's the word I'm looking for…_vulnerable_."

"You know what, I'm _really_ sick of you," Ichigo growled, clenching his fists. "You're always sitting here, spouting off all this crap, and you think you're so _smart_, but do you even understand anything you say? Or do you just say all of this _hoping_ you sound like you know what you're talking about?"

Rukia took a moment to consider her answer. "Maybe I just like the sound of my own voice," she suggested finally. Ichigo made an impatient noise in the back of his throat.

"Great. Well enjoy talking to yourself then."

He walked away without another word.

"Well that looked like it was going splendidly."

Rukia shifted her eyes away from Ichigo's retreating back, lifting her head to look at Momo, who was standing at the edge of the blanket, dripping wet, and giving Rukia a solemn look. "You know maybe the things you say wouldn't bother him so much if he actually _knew_ where the words were coming from," Momo suggested as Rukia sat up, running a hand through her hair.

"It's none of his business," she replied simply.

"That's not fair. You already know half his life's story. Doesn't he deserve to know just a little bit of yours?"

Sometimes…Rukia really hated it when Momo made sense. She stood up, sighing, and shoved her hands into her shorts pockets before turning away from Momo, taking the same path she'd watched Ichigo walk down.

It took almost ten minutes to find him. _Damn_ could he move fast. But finally Rukia tracked him down, sitting at the edge of the lake, tossing stones into the water, disturbing the smooth, glassy surface. Rukia leaned against a tree, standing behind him, and crossed her arms over her chest, watching him for a moment before speaking.

"My parents died when I was eight." Ichigo jumped; clearly he hadn't known she was behind him. "My sister was nineteen, she was halfway through her second year of college, and Social Services decided she wasn't fit to take care of me. My grandparents on both sides died before I was born, my parents didn't have an siblings or traceable cousins, so I was tossed into the system." She paused, giving Ichigo a chance to speak. When he didn't, she continued. "Usually the younger you are, the better chance you have of being adopted. I was eight, I was the perfect candidate for adoption. But Nee-san had _promised_ she would get me out, and we could live together, and she would be my guardian. So every time a family showed interest in adopting me, I started causing trouble. I'd break windows, throw temper tantrums, do anything it took for the family to kick me out. I refused to be adopted. The only person I wanted to live with was my sister. I knew eventually she would come for me. It was just a matter of getting through the system.

"I was twelve when Nee-san finally got me out. She graduated college when I was eleven, got a job, and spent the next year fighting with Social Services to grant her custody of me. It wasn't until she had a steady income and she proved she'd be a fit guardian that they finally released me to her."

Silence fell as Rukia finally finished speaking. She stared at the back of Ichigo's head for a long time, wondering if he was even going to acknowledge everything she'd just told him. When it didn't look like he was going to, Rukia rolled her eyes, pushing herself off the tree and turning to walk away again. She couldn't say she hadn't tried…

"How'd your parents die?"

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at Ichigo, a bit surprised by the question. "Car accident," she admitted finally, turning to face him completely.

"Oh." Ichigo hesitated for a moment before he continued. "Mine died in a house fire."

Rukia flinched.

_"Cute," Ichigo snorted. "As much fun as your little field trip sounds like, I think I'll pass, but thanks anyways."_

_"Your call," She could tell Hisana she'd tried, at least. "Try not to burn down the house or anything, okay?"_

_"Shut up," Ichigo snapped. Rukia stared at him, a bit bewildered by his harsh reaction. Yeesh…_

"Sorry," she said finally, realizing how completely inadequate that sounded. There wasn't much more she _could_ say though.

"It doesn't matter."

Rukia looked up at the sky, watching the fluffy white clouds drift slowly by. "Come on," she said finally, shifting her eyes back down to Ichigo. "Lets go see what the others are doing."

She was surprised when Ichigo actually stood up and turned to look at her.

They walked back in silence, Ichigo with his hands in his pockets, Rukia staring at the sky.

"Watch me, watch me!"

Makoto's tiny, excited voice reached their ears as they approached the main part of the beach. Rukia looked around just in time to see Makoto take a running start at the rope. He grabbed it, and the momentum threw him forward, out over the lake. "Let go!" Momo, Ayame, and Yukiko shouted at the same time. But Makoto's eyes widened when he saw how high up he was, and he panicked, gripping the rope tightly.

"Let go Makoto!" Ayame shouted encouragingly as she watched her brother swing back and forth. Rukia was surprised when Ichigo jogged past her, going over to the rope and grabbing it as it swung back over the ground.

"Thanks Ichigo-kun," Makoto muttered as he let go of the rope, falling the short distance down to the earth. He looked mortified.

"You know," Ichigo said slowly as he knelt in front of Makoto so they were eye to eye, "when I was little, my dad and mom and sisters and I used to go to a lake just like this. There was even a rope that kids could swing off of and use to jump into the water. The first summer we went, I was five—"

"Just like me?" Makoto cut in. Ichigo nodded.

"Yup, just like you," though that was news to him. "Anyways I saw all the older kids using the rope, and I wanted to use it too, because it looked like fun. But every time I tried to use it, I got scared, because it was so high up, and I wouldn't let go. So you know what my dad did?" Makoto shook his head slowly. "Well, he brought me into the water, and he let me climb on his shoulders, and when I was ready, I would jump off."

"Why?" Makoto asked, obviously not understanding how this was helpful.

"Because I was afraid of what was going to happen when I hit the water. So instead of starting off somewhere really high up, I started off closer to the water, so I could get used to the feeling of falling into it. And you know what, it worked. It took awhile, but after a couple days, I wasn't so afraid to let go of the rope." Makoto stared at Ichigo, his eyes wide with curiosity. "Come on," Ichigo sighed, straightening up and pulling his shirt off. "Lets go."

Makoto's eyes lit up. "Really?" He asked eagerly.

"Sure. Why not?"

"_Awesome_!" The boy practically bounced after Ichigo as he started towards the water's edge.

Rukia watched the two boys run to the water. She wouldn't deny she was just a tiny bit impressed. Ichigo had never struck her as the type who got along okay with kids. Makoto seemed completely at ease though…and was that a _smile_ Rukia saw gracing the lips of the sour orange-haired teen?

"Cute," Momo, who had walked over to Rukia, commented with a smile. "I bet he had little siblings before he went into the system. He was probably a good big brother."

"Yeah…maybe he was." Rukia crossed her arms over her chest, watching Ichigo and Makoto. Today, she decided as she watched Makoto climb onto Ichigo's shoulder and jump off again, hitting the water with a loud _splash_, wasn't a complete failure. There had certainly be _worse _days, at least.

And she'd seen Ichigo _almost_ smile. That felt like an accomplishment in itself.

_Mission almost accomplished. Go Rukia_.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter made me feel very fuzzy inside. I loved it. I loved thinking about it. I loved typing it. I loved going back and reading it. I just _loved_ this chapter. And that doesn't happen very often with me and my writing. So review please and let me know if you loved this chapter as much as I did — Sam


	7. Interwoven Pasts

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**VII. Interwoven Pasts**_

"Times like this really make me wish I was more accustom to carrying around a camera," Rukia said with a slight smirk. Ichigo threw her a quick glare, but bit back his answer, not wanting to wake the sleeping boy he was currently carrying on his back. Hinamori was watching them with a wide smile.

"_I_ think it's cute. I'm just glad we didn't have to wake him up, he's so _grouchy_ when somebody makes him wake up—"

"Yeah, but you're just a little ball of sunshine, right Momo-san?"

Momo stuck her tongue out at Rukia, who laughed. "It's true," Yukiko piped up. She was giggling. "Whenever she wakes up fro school in the morning she's always really mean and she _growls_ at us when we try to talk to her—"

"Hey Yukiko?"

"Yeah Nee-san?"

"Shut up."

Yukiko giggled, clearly pleased with herself.

They walked to Momo's house, still teasing the girl in the question. By the time they were standing on Momo's front step, said girl was blushing deep red and muttering about how everyone was against her. "Thank you so much for carrying him home, Kurosaki-kun," Momo said as she led Ichigo inside. Ichigo carefully laid Makoto on the couch.

"Sure, no problem." Ichigo paused for a moment, hesitating. "Thanks for…letting me tag along today."

"Any time." Momo grinned. "And that may come up a lot sooner than you expect, Makoto really likes you, next time we do an outing he'll probably be begging you to come along."

Ichigo's lips twitched into a small smile. "Hey, you two wanna be alone?" Rukia spoke up suddenly; she was leaning against the frame of the front door, watching them. "Because you know, I can leave…"

"Rukia-_san_," Momo rolled her eyes, smiling. Rukia smirked, clearly amused. "See you guys Monday."

"See ya," Rukia said as Ichigo muttered something of an assent. Momo was grinning as she watched the two leave. She had to admit, the two of them were kind of cute together…

"So you have to admit, today was pretty fun."

"Eh," Ichigo shrugged. He wasn't about to give Rukia the satisfaction of knowing she was right. Not that he really needed to.

"Fine, I'm right. I know I'm right. I don't need you to tell me."

"Well aren't we just full of ourselves?"

"Is it really considered being full of yourself if you _are_ right?" Ichigo considered this for a minute.

"I think so," he said finally. "I mean, even if you're right, you have no proof, you're just assuming, and you're so confident in your answer…yeah, I think it's still considered being full of yourself."

Rukia considered this for a moment. "Hmn. Yeah, I suppose so. I'll have to look into that some time…"

Hisana peaked out the window as she sat down with her book, quite pleased to see her sister and their houseguest walking up the driveway, chatting quite animatedly. It was nice to see the two of them talking without yelling at each other.

_I knew Rukia could be a good friend to him_.

Hisana would be the first to admit that she'd brought Ichigo into the house for more than just getting a good mark on his record. She knew Ichigo, and she knew he didn't connect well with people. It was one of the many reasons he'd been ousted from so many foster homes. Rukia, on the other hand, was quite good at connecting with people (though her methods _were_ admittedly questionable), and if she ever decided to be forthcoming about her own time spent in the system, Hisana _knew_ her sister would be able to get Ichigo to trust her. It was impossible not to.

"Hey you two." Hisana put on a smile as Ichigo and Rukia walked into the house. "How was the lake? Momo-san's siblings drive you crazy, Kurosaki-kun?"

"Actually they really liked him," Rukia spoke up before Ichigo could answer. "Makoto's probably going to ask his parents tonight if they can adopt Ichigo, kid loved him that much."

"Ha. Ha," Ichigo grumbled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Hisana was pleased to see a small smile pulling at his lips though. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the boy smile even a little.

Rukia was definitely doing him some good. Hisana was glad.

"So what do you guys want for supper, I was thinking pizza…"

"Nee-san you're going to turn into piece of pepperoni," Rukia informed her sister with a smirk as she started up the stairs to change.

"I'll be the smartest piece of pepperoni in the bunch then, won't I?"

"Is that _really_ something to brag about?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes again as he headed into his own room. He'd never admit, not even on his deathbed, that he sometimes found it amusing to listen to the sisters bicker. The Hisana he knew as his social worker and the Hisana who was Rukia's older sister were two _very_ different people. The contrast was stunning, but enjoyable. But even with the bickering, it was obvious Hisana cared a great deal for her little sister, and vice-versa. It was the kind of bond one didn't see often in siblings.

_"I was eight, I was the perfect candidate for adoption. But Nee-san had_ promised _she would get me out, and we could live together, and she would be my guardian."_

Ichigo sighed as he fell down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Rukia'd had so much _faith_ in her sister, even when she'd been little. Ichigo couldn't even remember what it was like to believe in someone _that_ much. But seeing the way Rukia and Hisana acted with each other, he almost understood.

_"The only person I wanted to live with was my sister. I knew eventually she would come for me. It was just a matter of getting through the system."_

Insane.

Hisana got her wish for pizza. Supper was mostly quiet, save for Hisana's and Rukia's little snipes back and forth to each other. Ichigo ate his slice in silence before excusing himself and disappearing back into his room.

Rukia waited until Ichigo's door was closed and she was sure he was sitting on his bed occupying himself with something to turn to Hisana and ask the question that had been burning in her mind all day.

"What are Ichigo's sisters like?"

Hisana looked a bit surprised by the question. "He told you about them?" Rukia nodded silently. "Wow. He doesn't usually talk about his family that much. In eight foster homes I think he's talked about to maybe two foster parents. How'd you get him to open up so much?"

Rukia half considered explaining to her sister the conversation she and Ichigo had held on the roof the night before. But Hisana didn't know about her sister's nighttime adventures, and Rukia would really rather keep it that way. "You know me," she said instead, waving Hisana off. Hisana nodded. Yeah. She knew Rukia all right.

"I haven't seen Yuzu and Karin in over a year, so they could have changed. But last I knew Karin was a tough-acting 'nothing can hurt me' girl and Yuzu was a timid, sensitive little thing that loved taking care of people. They don't always act it, but they're incredibly close. Karin's gotten into more trouble than even _she_ can remember defending Yuzu from bullies at school, and Yuzu is _always_ following Karin everywhere she goes. They're inseparable. It's always a pleasant treat to see that the terrible things that have happened in their lives haven't gotten them down."

"More than Ichigo can say," Rukia muttered, setting down her half-eaten pizza slice, her eyes on her plate. Hisana smiled sadly.

"Too many foster homes have been bad to him. He's just coping with it the best way he knows how."

Rukia raised her eyes, one pair of similar orbs meeting another, and Hisana saw a world of hurt in her sister's violet gaze. "Coping. Right." With that she stood up, abandoning her food and heading into the living room. Hisana sighed as the front door opened and closed with more force than what was probably necessary. She cursed herself for mentioning bad foster homes.

Rukia made her way slowly down the street, kicking a rock as she walked. It wasn't that she was mad. She really wasn't. She just didn't feel like talking to Hisana anymore. When the word _coping_ came up, the topic inevitably turned to Rukia, no matter what the original discussion had been. And Rukia really wasn't in the mood for that. Not tonight. Not after she'd had such a great day.

She didn't feel like dredging up that past.

_"Why do I have to go Nee-san?" Rukia asked, tilting her head up to look at her sister through tear-filled eyes. Hisana swallowed hard, wrapping her arms around the girl's tiny body and holding her tightly. "I don't want to go," Rukia mumbled, burying her face in Hisana's shirt._

_"I don't want you to go," Hisana murmured, smoothing back Rukia's hair. "It's only going to be for a little while though, all right? I'm going to get you back as soon as I can, and we'll live together, and I'll take care of you,, I promise. We'll be a family again. But for now…you have to go."_

_Rukia looked back at the woman standing in the door of the house — their home. She frowned and looked back at her sister, who smiled the best she could. "It'll be okay, Rukia. I promise. I'm going to come for you as soon as I can."_

_Rukia nodded slowly. She trusted Hisana, who had never broken a promise to her before._

_Everything would be okay_.

Ichigo tossed the rubber ball at the wall; it hit with a satisfyingly loud _smack_ before flying back to Ichigo's outstretched hand. He'd been doing this for almost twenty minutes, and still no interruption from Rukia. Maybe — hopefully — she'd found a way to block it out. Ichigo hoped so. He was getting tired of Rukia confiscating the thing.

The tossing of the ball was a mindless thing; Ichigo's mind was still mostly on the earlier part of the day, at the lake. Talking with Rukia.

When was the last time he'd disclosed so much of his life to a person? He'd told Rukia about his sisters, his parents' deaths…since when did he talk so much? Especially to a person who had, within only a couple days, won the title of the most freakin' _annoying_ person he'd ever met. So what was this strange, other-worldly ability she had to make him talk about things he just wanted to bury inside him forever?

_"Hi Ichi-nii!" Yuzu chirped happily as she ran out of the house, throwing herself into her brother's outstretched arms and hugging him as tightly as she could._

_"Hey Yuzu." Ichigo smiled the best he could as he held his sister. It was the first time he'd come to see his sisters in almost six months. He was definitely expecting questions as to why._

_"Aw come on Karin, what's wrong? Don't want to give your big brother a hug?"_

_The raven-haired girl was standing a few feet away from her embracing siblings. Ichigo knew _she'd_ be the one to question him. Yuzu wouldn't care about the reasons. As long as she got to see her brother._

_After a hesitant moment Karin stepped forward as well, just enough for Ichigo to stretch out an arm and wrap it around her as well. His sisters were tiny, especially compared to him; they easily fit in his grip._

_He decided to beat Karin to the chase. "I'm sorry I haven't come to visit. Things have been really crazy lately."_

_"Yeah, you spend so much time bouncing from foster home to foster home and causing trouble, you just don't have time to come see us, right?" Karin's voice was sarcastic, but gentle enough that Ichigo knew she was just kidding with him. He chuckled dryly._

_"You caught me."_

_"Ichi-nii when are you going to stop causing so much trouble?"_

That_ disapproving question was in Yuzu's voice. Ichigo just smiled, pulling away from the girls and patting Yuzu's straw-colored hair. He didn't have an answer, and he didn't want to lie._

_So he said nothing._

Rukia's head snapped up as the streetlight directly over her clicked on. She probably should have headed home. Hisana was probably going to start worrying. But she really just wanted to keep walking. The longer she put off going home, the sooner she could just go to her room and go to bed when she finally did return. She wasn't sure if Hisana would try to pursue any topics. She didn't want to find out the hard way that her sister was actually in a chatty mood, though.

So instead she kept walking.

_Rukia looked down at her feet, which were dangling about a foot off the ground, kicking back and forth of their own accord. She was waiting for a social worker to come. The mean woman who had picked her up at her house hadn't allowed Hisana to come with them, saying it would be better if they "said their goodbyes now." And now Rukia was alone. Waiting._

_A pair of beat up sneakers walked into Rukia's line of vision. She didn't look up to see the person attached to the feet stuff into the sneakers, even when a friendly male voice said, "Hey there, kiddo." When Rukia didn't look, the man knelt down, draping his arms under his knees and moving so his face was in Rukia's sight. He looked nice, she supposed; his lips were quirked into a smile, and his black eyes were brimming with happiness, though Rukia didn't really get what he was so happy about. "Are you Rukia?" She nodded, barely raising her head to meet his eyes._

_"Who're you?" She whispered. The man's smile widened._

_"I'm Shiba Kaien. I'm going to help you find a new place to live."_

* * *

**Author's Note:** This isn't really meant to be cliff-hanger-ly or anything, it just sort of happened that way. This chapter turned into more filler than anything, though we got some more of Rukia's past, which I know people have been wanting. And there's still more to come, trust me. Moving on to the part where I shamelessly beg for reviews though…today's the day I like to call my birthday =D You know what a great present would be? Reviews. Lots and lots of reviews. You don't want to deny me such an amazing gift, do you? PS, I have no shame. Review please! — Sam


	8. Sunday Road Trip

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**VIII. Sunday Road Trip**_

Ichigo had been suspicious, to say the least, when Rukia had oh-so-casually suggested a Sunday road trip. Hisana had been more than happy to volunteer her car for the adventure — something that had raised Ichigo's suspicion radar even more. Of course, neither sister had given Ichigo a chance to voice his doubts. Now _why_ would they ever do _that_?

"Where are we going?" Ichigo demanded as they left the city. Rukia just smirked as they pulled up to a stop sign.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you patience is virtue?"

"Hasn't anyone ever told _you_ kidnapping is a crime?"

"Now who in their right mind is going to believe that little old _me_ kidnapped a giant monster like you?" Rukia asked with a laugh. "If you say the word kidnapping, the police will probably arrest _you_."

Unfortunately, she had a point. It didn't help Ichigo's case that he already had a record, of course. Vandalism, stealing, a whole bunch of little petty crimes. They built up after awhile though.

"What was your social worker like?" Ichigo asked, a bit off-handedly, mostly to take his mind off their mystery destination. He hadn't expected Rukia's hand to tighten around the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white, nor had he expected her face to crumple into an almost _pained_ look. He suddenly felt bad for asking. "…Rukia?"

_"Come on kiddo, this is the third home you've gotten kicked out of," Kaien said with a sigh as he led Rukia towards his car. "What happened, you were doing fine in the beginning."_

_"They wanted to adopt me," Rukia grumbled, kicking at a rock with her foot. Kaien smiled a bit as he ruffled Rukia's hair._

_"What a crime. Let me guess, they also wanted to buy you a puppy? What monsters, they must be stopped." Rukia giggled a bit despite herself._

_"Kaien-dono!"_

_Kaien chuckled. He, of course, knew the reason for Rukia's aversion to adoption. He made a mental note to tell her next family not to mention the idea to her. Unless _they_ wanted all their windows taken out by rocks too_.

_Snap…snap…_

"Rukia!"

Rukia jumped a mile as a pair of snapping fingers, along with Ichigo's voice, brought her back to reality. She blinked a couple of times before remembering she was sitting in a car. And she was supposed to be driving.

"Oops," she muttered as she carefully pressed down on the gas pedal, moving them forward. She could feel Ichigo's gaze burning a hole into the side of her head as he tried to figure out what Rukia's space-out had been all about.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a moment. Rukia nodded, pressing her lips tightly together and trying to convey the message that she didn't want to talk. Thankfully, Ichigo seemed to get the hint. He turned to look out the window, leaving his "kidnapper" alone. Which probably wasn't a good thing. But Rukia was grateful for it.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence…at least until they passed one of those signs telling them they were entering a town. Ichigo's eyes widened as he _finally_ realized where they were going. "What the hell?" He demanded loudly, turning to glare at Rukia, who was smirking faintly.

"Something wrong?"

"Why are we here?"

"Well I was under the impression that your sisters lived here, I thought it'd be a great treat for them to see that their older brother was still alive."

To say Ichigo was angry would have been an understatement. Rukia knew she _should_ have felt bad about pulling this on him. Obviously he didn't want to see his sisters for a reason, and though Rukia couldn't quite fathom what kind of reason it was, in all reality, she also didn't care. Things weren't always about him.

_"I want to see Nee-san," Rukia said unhappily as she climbed into the car. Kaien sighed, looking at his watch, then up at the setting sun._

_"It's kind of late kiddo, I need to get you to the Kyorakus' and start seeing if I can find out about another foster home for you…"_

_"But I _want_ to see Nee-san," Rukia whined, glaring at Kaien. "Please Kaien-dono, I haven't seen her in a long time."_

_Another sigh. "All right," he finally ceded as he turned the key in the ignition, and the engine roared to life. "We can't stay for long though, okay?"_

_Rukia didn't care. Even five minutes with her sister was better than no time at all_.

Ichigo didn't know what it was like. _He_ was the older sibling in this case, he didn't know how it was to be the younger sibling constantly worrying for the older one. And if his sisters were anything like Rukia…

"Just do this. For them, okay? Hisana talked to them on the phone last night, they were really excited about seeing you."

How could Ichigo say no to that?

The sight of Yuzu and Karin, sitting on the front steps of the house they now called home, chatting animatedly about something or another, pulled tightly at Ichigo's heart. Their heads snapped around as Rukia pulled the car into their driveway, and they jumped up. They'd grown, Ichigo noted stupidly as he climbed out of the car. They were about as tall as Rukia, he thought with some amusement.

"_Ichi-nii_!" Yuzu cheered as she launched herself at her brother, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. Ichigo smiled a bit as he returned the hug.

"Good to see you again too, Yuzu."

Karin stayed a few steps back from Yuzu, uncertain as always. Ichigo raised his eyes to look at his raven-haired sister, who was regarding him a bit stonily. "No hug for your big brother, Karin?"

The girl smiled just a little as she stepped forward, allowing Ichigo to wrap an arm around _her_ as well. Rukia leaned against the hood of the car, arms crossed over her chest, smiling. Okay, so it'd been low, not telling Ichigo they were coming out here. But Rukia had a feeling he wouldn't be complaining any time soon.

All and all it was a rather enjoyable day. Yuzu's and Karin's foster parents had cleared out in order to give the girls some time with their estranged brother. Rukia had been planning to do the same thing, until Yuzu had turned to her and (after happily exclaiming that she looked like a mini-version of Hisana) invited her to stay as well. Even then she'd been planning to make up an excuse about having to run errands and taking off, but Ichigo's eyes had sought hers out, silently beseeching her to say. And so Rukia had given in, following the Kurosaki siblings into the house. Yuzu had instantly set to work on cooking lunch, all the while chatting excitedly, filling her brother in on everything he'd missed in the year they'd been apart. Karin, Rukia noticed, was mostly quiet as she sat at the table with her brother, staring at the wooden surface in front of her.

"So what've _you_ been doing?" She finally asked when Yuzu stopped to breathe. Ichigo looked a bit surprised at the question.

"Well…you know…a bit of this, a bit of that…"

"Still getting into trouble?" Ichigo cringed.

"Yeah…maybe a little…"

"You really can't blame him, Karin-chan," Rukia spoke up, feeling a strange need to come to Ichigo's rescue. "Sometimes it's hard for fools to remember that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. He causes the same trouble over and over because he doesn't remember that the actions he's taking got him into trouble _before_, you know?"

Ichigo was insulted when Yuzu and Karin both began laughing. "Traitors," he muttered, glaring at both of them. Rukia smirked, pleased with her thought-up-on-the-spot defense. She was surprised when Ichigo shot her a strangely grateful look.

Rukia was amazed by now good lunch was. Yuzu was really a terrific cook. Ichigo seemed impressed by the fact too.

After lunch Yuzu dragged Ichigo upstairs to show him her room. Karin stayed downstairs with Rukia; they sat next to each other on the couch, silent for a few moments.

"Ichi-nii didn't want to come here, did he?" The younger girl asked after a minute. Rukia turned to look at her, surprised she had come to such a conclusion.

"No," she finally admitted. She saw no point in lying to Karin, who would probably see right through it. "But I think he's happy he's here now. He really loves you and your sister even if he doesn't always act it."

"How bad is the trouble he's been getting into? Do you know?"

Rukia hesitated. She knew more about Ichigo than she let on, but what was safe to tell Karin? "It's not really…trouble," she finally settled for saying. "He just doesn't like to sit still, he runs away from his foster homes a lot. It just _causes_ trouble because he's a minor, and the police are always picking him up when he runs."

Karin sighed. "I hate how he does that. He needs to learn not to close himself off so much, his life would be so much better if he learned to let himself be happy."

Rukia certainly wasn't about to disagree with _that_. In fact she was pretty sure she'd _said_ that to Ichigo at one point in time.

"So why did you make him come out here if you knew he didn't want to?" Karin asked, abruptly changing the subject. Rukia didn't hesitate to answer this one.

"I know what it's like to be the little sister. You worry about Ichigo a lot, don't you?" Karin nodded slowly. "I get that. And anyways Ichigo's being selfish, not coming here to see you. He's your older brother. You deserve to be able to see him if it's possible. And there was nothing stopping him from coming out here today, besides his own stubbornness."

Karin smiled a bit. She kind of liked Rukia, though she'd probably never admit it.

"And see, that's from when we went to the beach last summer, we found a whole bunch of crabs and we put them in that bucket…"

Ichigo was smiling as his sister showed him all the pictures that lined the surface of her bureau. Yuzu seemed to be enjoying herself. That was all that mattered to Ichigo.

"And that's from Karin's soccer game at the end of last season, she scored the winning goal for the entire championship, she still has the ball in her room actually, I'll show it to you in a bit if you want."

Well at least Karin and Yuzu seemed to be going somewhere with their lives. Ichigo was glad that they had themselves on track. It wouldn't have been fair if _their_ lives had been ruined too. "So what's it like living with Hisana-san?" Yuzu asked after a moment. Ichigo snorted.

"Well Hisana-san's fine…her sister, on the other hand, is the biggest pain in the butt I've ever met."

Yuzu giggled. "She seems pretty nice to me."

"Yeah, she's an absolute _angel_ when she's around other people. Get her alone with _me_ though and you see the devil horns that are holding her halo up."

"Well she got you to come here, that says something about her don't you think?"

"Yeah, she's a manipulative little midget." Ichigo rolled his eyes and quickly changed the subject. He hadn't come here to talk about _Rukia_, after all. "Come on, lets go see that soccer ball of Karin's."

Yuzu grinned as she led Ichigo out of the room and across the hall, slipping into another room. It was so easy to please — and distract — her. Ichigo smiled a bit as he followed her. He was strangely glad that Rukia had brought him there.

* * *

"Thank you."

Rukia looked over at Ichigo, surprised. "What?"

Ichigo sighed. She _would_ force him to repeat himself… "Thanks for today. For making me come out here. It was…nice…seeing the two of them again. I missed them more than I realized."

"Of course you did, they're your little sisters. You love them."

Ichigo sighed quietly. "You really _do_ know everything, don't you?" Rukia laughed as she returned her attention to the road before them.

"Well I try. I'm surprisingly clueless about some things though. You know, if it makes you feel any better."

"Somehow, it does." Ichigo chuckled a bit despite himself. He would never admit it, not even to himself, but he almost _liked_ seeing Rukia smile. The haunted look that had ruled her face when he'd asked her about her social worker had made something pull tight in his chest. He didn't understand the pain, and he didn't understand why it hurt so much to see Rukia upset…but he wasn't going to think too far into it. He'd just drive himself crazy if he did _that_.

"Anyways…thanks again."

"Anytime," Rukia said with a smirk. "You know me, I'm always willing to kick you in the butt if you need me."

"Don't I know it." Ichigo rolled his eyes. He would _certainly_ never admit that he was grateful for that.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So I know you were all hoping for some more of Rukia's past this chapter — sorry for that. But I've had this chapter in mind since I started writing this story, and you know me, I have no self-control — when an idea persists, I can't help but write it. So we have this. Next chapter is a little more of Rukia's past. And I'm sure you're all wondering about her reaction when Ichigo asked about her social worker — we'll find out about that too. I can't guarantee exactly when the next chapter is going to come _out_, unfortunately — I'm back in school now, and unfortunately college takes priority over every other aspect of my life :-/ No matter how much I hate it. Reviews motivate me though, so review please and maybe I'll feel more compelled to blow off homework XD — Sam


	9. Pieces of the Past

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**IX. Pieces of the Past**_

"Hey Ichigo-kun, come here for a minute."

To say Ichigo looked bewildered as he walked into the living room was an understatement. Hisana didn't normally call on him, choosing instead only to let him do what he had to and only get involved if he really screwed up. Luckily, in the almost three weeks that had passed since Ichigo had come to stay with Hisana and her sister, no occasion like that had come up. And if it had, Rukia had defused it, making Hisana virtually useless.

"What's up Hisana-san?"

Hisana looked over at the front door that Rukia had departed out of not five minutes earlier with plans to spend the night at Hinamori's house. In other words, Hisana had plenty of time.

"Has Rukia told you anything about our parents?" She asked as Ichigo sat down. The question seemed to surprise him.

"Um…a little bit. They died in a car accident when she was eight, right?" Hisana nodded slowly. "Why?"

"Just curious."

Hisana was aware that the playing field between Ichigo and Rukia wasn't exactly fair. Rukia had, courtesy of Hisana, known just about everything there was to know about Ichigo before she'd even met him. And Hisana was aware of how little her sister tended to share about her own past.

It was time to even the field.

"How much do you know about the time she spent in foster care?"

"Just that she was in it." Ichigo was beginning to sound a bit frustrated. "_Why_?"

"Because I know Rukia can be aggravating sometimes, I hear you two arguing constantly. It bugs you, the way she acts, doesn't it?" Ichigo nodded carefully. "Yeah, I don't blame you. It gets pretty annoying, dealing with her, she likes to act all-knowing. The problem is, she _does_ understand a little more of what you've gone through then any normal kid might. I know you dealt with a lot of bad foster homes, and trust me, she did too. The thing is…you have something that she didn't."

"What's that?"

"Well, not to sound presumptuous or anything…" Hisana smirked a bit, making the resemblance between herself and her younger sister all the more noticeable. "You have a decent social worker." Ichigo laughed shortly.

"So who _was_ her social worker?" He asked after a minute. He'd bee curious about it since the day they'd gone to see his sisters. Rukia never _had_ answered him…

"It's…kind of a long story."

_"I know you're upset—"_

_"Will all due respect, _Shiba-sama_, you have no idea whatsoever how I feel right now," Hisana snapped, aggravation clear in her voice. At that moment, Shiba Kaien — the man that was helping to take her sister away — was the _last_ person she wanted to see._

_"This isn't exactly a pleasant job for _me_, either," Kaien's voice was surprisingly cold — surprising considering he'd spoken in nothing but kind tones since he'd shown up at Hisana's door. "I'm no fan of tearing families apart, especially if there's no reason. I'd like to do everything I can to keep you and your sister as together as possible, though. At least until you have a stable enough environment to be able to take care of her yourself. I'm not the enemy here."_

_Hisana stared at the man, a bit mistrustfully. She wanted to believe he wasn't taking Rukia away from her for good, but…_

_"Do you promise?"_

_Kaien smiled softly. "I promise."_

"He doesn't sound like that bad of a guy," Ichigo commented as Hisana's voice drifted off. "He sounds a bit like you, actually."

Hisana laughed quietly. "Yeah. He was one of the few decent social workers out there. Rukia really liked him too."

Ichigo suddenly sensed that this story was about to take a turn for the worse. "So what happened?"

Hisana sighed quietly.

_"Nee-san!"_

_Needless to say, Rukia had _not_ been expecting to see her big sister when she walked into the social services office, led by a man neither sister had ever met, though Hisana suspected that was who she had spoken to on the phone, telling her to come down to the office for a meeting. Rukia threw herself into her sister's waiting arms, squeezing her tightly._

_"Hisana-san." The man that had come in with Rukia stepped forward, holding a hand out. "My name is Sousuke Aizen." Hisana stood slowly, taking the man's hand and shaking it briefly. "It's a pleasure."_

_Hisana wished she could say the same. Something about this man…just…_bothered_ her. He seemed nice enough, with his kind smile and soft, dark eyes hidden behind square glasses. But something about him just wasn't sitting quite right with her. She couldn't figure it out._

_"Aizen-sama picked me up from the Kyorakus'," Rukia spoke up, wrapping her hand around her sister's free fingers. "Nee-san how come Kaien-dono didn't pick me up?"_

_Hisana didn't know the answer to that, of course. She raised her eyes to look at Aizen, who regarded the sisters carefully. "As of today I will be taking Rukia's case," he explained, looking between the two of them. Shock reflected in two pairs of similar violet eyes._

_"_Why_?" They demanded in one voice._

_"Does the reason really matter right now?"_

Ichigo frowned a bit. "So did you ever find out what happened?"

Hisana nodded sadly. "Kaien-dono and his wife were shot and killed one night. They'd been walking through town and somebody tried to mug them. Kaien-dono tried to protect his wife, of course, they shot her first when she tried to run away. Then they shot Kaien-dono for fighting back. It was bad." Ichigo's frown morphed into a look of horror. "Rukia only just found out about it last year. She loved Kaien-dono, absolutely idolized him, I didn't really know what his death would do to her. I know lying to her wasn't right either, but…I don't know. You're an older sibling, you understand, right?" Ichigo nodded. Yeah. He understood.

"I'm guessing this Aizen guy isn't nearly as nice as he seemed on the surface."

Hisana shook her head, her face taking on a hard look. "That…_man_…if you can even call him that…was exactly what most people expect a social worker to be. He didn't give a damn about the kids under his care. I did a little digging after...certain events…and found out there were multiple reports of kids going to him saying they were being abused, and he ignored _all_ of them. He was terrible." Ichigo scowled. He'd only ever had _one_ abusive home, and Hisana had been there pulling him out and filing reports as soon as Ichigo had called her.

"Was…I mean…did Rukia…" He wanted to ask if Rukia had been one of the ignored kids, but couldn't figure out quite how to word it. Luckily, Hisana got what he was trying to say.

"Rukia was one of those kids," she replied shortly. Ichigo hesitated before posing his next question.

"What happened to her?"

But Hisana shook her head. "That isn't my story to tell." She'd told Rukia plenty about Ichigo, but she'd never gone into specific details about how badly Ichigo had suffered at the hands of the foster system. She would grant Rukia that same courtesy.

Ichigo saw he wasn't going to get an answer. He let it go. "It was almost a year before I saw Rukia again. Aizen never made the effort to let us see each other, he just couldn't be bothered. I finally went to the Kyorakus' and asked them to call me the next time Rukia was there. Two months after that I finally got a call.

"It was…hard, seeing her. The last time I'd seen her, she'd been nervous, but willing to try and trust Aizen. Now when I looked at her, she was just…defeated. There was absolutely nothing in her eyes. She looked at me like she didn't even recognize me. She was eleven. It was still another year before I finally got her out. I spent that year looking into Aizen's other cases and digging up everything I could on him to prove he was inadequate as a social worker. Without going into detail, I found some…pretty disturbing things. In the end I actually got him arrested. He's still in jail, as far as I know. He got a fifteen year sentence."

"Good." Ichigo was surprised by the forcefulness of his voice. The idea of that neglectful scumbag still walking around free infuriated him though. Ichigo was glad he was behind bars where he belonged.

"What happened to Rukia…was it bad?" He didn't expect details. He just wanted to know exactly how screwed up Rukia was, as strange as it seemed.

Hisana hesitated for a moment before answering. "She's still living with it to this day," she finally settled for saying. It was enough of an answer. Ichigo ran a hand through his hair, feeling strangely satisfied. Maybe he hadn't learned much about Rukia's time in the system…but it was certainly more than he'd known before.

* * *

Rukia's eyes snapped open with a surprised gasp; she cringed back when she saw someone was leaning over her, then relaxed when she saw it was just Makoto. "Are you okay Nee-chan?" He whispered, pulling away and allowing Rukia to sit up. Her violet eyes fell on Momo, who was fast asleep, of course. The girl could sleep through a hurricane.

"What are you doing awake Makoto, it's after three."

"I was just going to the bathroom, I heard you muttering…Nee-chan were you having a nightmare?" Rukia sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, Makoto. A nightmare."

"What was it about?"

Rukia wrapped her arms around Makoto's tiny body and pulling him into her lap, hugging him. "It was nothing, Maki. Don't worry about it."

Makoto smiled a little as he twisted into Rukia's arms, pressing a light kiss against her cheek. "You know I had a nightmare once. I dreamt I was all alone in the house, and nobody else was home and I kept calling for Mommy and Daddy and Ayame-nee-san and Yukiko-nee-san and Momo-nee-san, but nobody answered. And then this really scary guy came into my room, and he was holding a knife, and he started chasing me. I woke up right before he caught me. It was really scary. I didn't wanna talk about it 'cause I was scared, but Momo-nee-san told me that if you talk about nightmare, it makes you feel better 'cause the more you talk about it, the less real it seems." Rukia smiled weakly as she pressed her lips against Makoto's floppy haired head. "So do you wanna talk about your nightmare now?"

Rukia laughed. "It's okay Makoto. You should go back to bed, it's late."

Makoto twisted around, wrapping his tiny arms around Rukia's neck and hugging her tightly. "Good night Nee-chan," he mumbled as he pulled away, standing up. Rukia smiled.

"Good night Makoto. Thanks for waking me up from that nightmare."

"Any time. Yukiko-nee-san says I'm _really_ good at waking people up." Rukia laughed again. Makoto grinned before slipping out of the room, closing the door behind him. Rukia laid back down on her pillow, tucking her arms under her head and staring at the ceiling.

If only it was all as easy as Makoto made it sound. Rukia's problem was that her nightmares _were_ real. Too real.

_"Rukia! _Rukia!_"_

_Rukia's eyes shot open, the last remnants of a scream dying in her throat as her violet orbs snapped around to look up at her sister. Hisana was leaning over her, two hands on her shoulders, her own eyes wide. "What's wrong? What were you dreaming about?" Hisana demanded as Rukia pushed herself up; her shaking arms nearly collapsed underneath her. Hisana quickly wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders, steadying her. "Rukia?" Hisana pushed a strand of hair (damp with sweat) out of her sister's face. Rukia tried to answer, but her throat felt as if it had closed on itself. She opened and shut her mouth a couple of times, giving up when no sound came out other than her gasping for breath. Finally she just launched herself at her sister, wrapping her arms tightly around Hisana's neck and burying her face in her shoulder, sobbing._

_Hisana was thoroughly bewildered, to say the least, as she wrapped her arms around Rukia's shaking body, holding her tightly. "Sh, sh, it's okay," Hisana whispered over and over, running a hand through the girl's hair, trying to comfort her. Rukia just shook her head, holding on to her sister as if her life depended on it — and in so many ways, it did_.

Rukia didn't manage to fall back to sleep before the sun began to rise. She sighed as she stared out the window, swallowing hard, watching the oranges and pinks and yellows blend together in to a color unknown to any human eye as the sun began to take over the sky once more.

The nightmares had become a lot more frequent in the last few weeks. For awhile they'd gone away all together; Rukia had hoped maybe she'd _finally_ be able to move on. But it seemed like they were determined to continue haunting her life.

"Mmm…Rukia-san?"

Rukia shifted her eyes and found herself looking into the bleary brown orbs of her best friend. "How long have you been awake for?" Momo mumbled as she fell back on her pillow, rubbing her eyes.

"Not long," Rukia lied as she sat up, doing her best to look tired. It wasn't hard; her abrupt awakening at three a.m. had left her emotionally exhausted. She was _not_ ready to face this day. "I just woke up a couple of minutes ago."

Momo noticed nothing of her friend's lie. She stumbled out of bed, still trying to wake up, and went out into the hall, mumbling something about the bathroom. Rukia leaned her head against the wall behind her, closing her eyes for a moment.

_Rukia raised her eyes to look up at Aizen, who was leading her up the driveway of a small, box-like house. It didn't look like a _terrible_ place…but there was something about it Rukia didn't like._

_"Now Rukia, this is an old friend of mine. You're not going to cause any trouble while you're staying with him, are you?"_

_Rukia swallowed hard, determinedly looking away. She did _not_ like Aizen. She missed Kaien-dono. She wondered why he went away._

_The door of the house opened before Aizen even had a chance to knock. For one bewildering moment, Rukia wondered, as she looked up into the eyes of the man that would be her temporary guardian, if someone somewhere had somehow succeeded in breeding a human and a snake together._

_"Rukia this is Ichimaru Gin. I trust you'll behave during the duration of your time here."_

* * *

**Author's Note:** Now you _know_ with Ichimaru involved this whole thing is just going to be all kinds of bad. Anyways, not a lot of Rukia's past revealed, but enough for now. It'll probably be another couple of chapters before Ichigo finds out exactly _what_ happened — and you can probably guess without me telling you that it has everything to do with Ichimaru. Anyways, review please! Reviews always help in the updating process — Sam


	10. Happy To Go?

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**X. Happy To Go?**_

"…"

"…"

"…_How_…is that even _possible_?"

Ichigo shrugged. Rukia glared at him for the longest time, then looked down at the two packets of paper sitting on the table in front of them. It was a test they'd taken about a week earlier. Ichigo had done exactly three points better than Rukia.

She still couldn't believe it.

"Do you even know what a book _is_?" Rukia demanded angrily. She hadn't seen the boy so much as _look_ at a book since Rukia had known him. How in the world had he managed to do _better_ than Rukia on a _test_? Sure it was only three points, and they'd both still gotten the highest grades in the class, but…come on!

"If it's really that big of a deal to you, stop thinking about it," Ichigo suggested as he grabbed his test, shoving it into his bag and heading into his room. Rukia scowled before grabbing her own test and going after him.

"Seriously—"

"My thoughts exactly." Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You know it's not healthy to be obsessive over something."

"I am _not_ obsessive."

"You're yelling at me because I did three points better on a test."

"I am _not_ yelling!"

Ichigo tossed his bag into the corner of his room and flopped down on his bed, raising an eyebrow at Rukia, who was glaring at him. "Just out of curiosity…have you ever considered professional help as an option?"

That did it, Ichigo reflected with a slight smirk as Rukia huffed, turning on her heel and storming out of the room. It was so easy to push her buttons.

Ichigo's smirk faded just a bit as he rolled on to his side, staring out the window. Teasing Rukia had lost some of its…amusement, after finding out that she had suffered just the same as him during her time in the system. It didn't stop him, of course; she would have been suspicious about the change, and Ichigo wasn't interested in getting Hisana in to trouble. It had always just been easier to think of Rukia as another overly-privileged brat. It almost bothered Ichigo that she could just as easily be put in the same category as him.

Not that it changed it had changed any part of their antagonistic friendship; because really, that was exactly what it was. They got an each other's nerves, yes. Each _strived_ to get under the other's skin. But at the same time, they could manage to get along, if they both really wanted to.

Usually it was just easier to argue though.

* * *

Hisana frowned as she stared at the calendar. "It's not going to start doing back-flips," Misa said with a slight laugh as she walked past Hisana, coffee cup in hand. The raven-haired woman didn't bother responding to the flippant comment. "What's wrong?" Misa asked, a bit surprised.

"It's been a month." It took Misa a minute to figure out what this meant.

"Kurosaki stayed with you for an entire month?" She finally asked, shock coloring her tone. "You must have some kind of magic touch, how did you manage that?"

Hisana would never voice her suspicions, but she had a feeling Rukia had a lot to do with Ichigo managing to get through an entire month without trying to run away. The two of them had a…_strange_ relationship, to say the least.

"So have you started looking at into homes for him?" Misa asked, noticing nothing of the conflict that overtook Hisana's features at the question. As much as she hated to admit it, as much as she knew it was a bad idea to get attached, Hisana didn't _want_ to start thinking about new homes for Ichigo. She would have just as soon let him stay with _her_ until he aged out of the system.

Unfortunately, she knew that wasn't an option.

"I've got a family you could look at," Misa said, going over to her desk and finding the file. "They've taken a couple other kids already, they actually just finished adopting the second one. They're…unique, to say the least. But I get the feeling normal doesn't exactly work with Kurosaki, does it?"

"To say the least," Hisana agreed. She took the file, flipping it open and beginning to read. She didn't absorb any of what the words on the page were telling her, though. She was more worried about going home and telling Ichigo — and Rukia, for that matter — that their time was up.

—

"…_Ow_!"

_That_ word, coupled with the sound of plastic bouncing off of linoleum, was what greeted Hisana as she walked through the door, pizza box in hand. She stopped dead, smiling a bit as Rukia's irate voice reached her ears.

"I am _not_ short!"

Well Hisana _had_ warned Ichigo, she mused as she made her way into the kitchen. She could only hope that the plastic cup rolling around the floor hadn't been what her easily annoyed sister had whipped at the boy's head. "_You're _not short?" He continued despite the pain that was probably surging through his skull at the moment. "Please, I need a magnifying glass to see you!"

"Who wants pizza?" Hisana inquired loudly before Rukia could find something else to abuse Ichigo with. She rather disliked the way Rukia stared at the pizza box; as if _it_ could be her next weapon of choice.

"Oh, Nee-san, before I forget, Byakuya-sama called."

Hisana did her best to ignore the fact that all her limbs were suddenly numb as she set the pizza down on the counter. "Oh?" She tried to sound impartial. "When?"

"Um…about three days ago."

"_What_?" Hisana whirled around to glare at Rukia, anger apparent in her violet eyes. "And you're just telling me _now_?"

"I forgot."

"Rukia!" And with that, Hisana turned on her heel and ran upstairs to use the phone in her room; it was the only way she would get any privacy.

"That was mean," Ichigo commented mildly as he grabbed a piece of pizza and a plate. Rukia was grinning as she followed suit.

"I know."

"When do you think she'll figure out he just called twenty minutes ago?"

"I'm guessing after she finished stammering apologizes for taking so long to get back to him and sounding like an idiot—"

"_Rukia_!"

That did it. Rukia burst out laughing, clearly amused by her little joke. Ichigo stared at her for a minute before allowing a smile to grace his lips as well. Rukia found a certain joy in torturing her sister. Not that Hisana didn't make it insanely easy…

"You know," Rukia said casually as Hisana stormed back downstairs almost twenty minutes later, her face redder than Ichigo could ever remember seeing it, "you've been dating this guy for over a month. When do I get to meet him?"

"How about the twelfth of never?" Hisana snapped, clearly furious with being the butt of her sister's joke. Rukia just grinned.

"Something wrong, Nee-san?"

Boy, if looks could kill. Ichigo was feeling nervous with just being in the general _vicinity_ of Hisana's glare. Rukia didn't seem to mind too much though. She took a sip of her soda without flinching, giving the woman no kind of acknowledgment.

"Someday Rukia…" Hisana threatened, her voice little more than a growl as she stormed over to the counter, yanking the cabinet door open and grabbing a plate with more vindictiveness than what was probably necessary considering the situation.

"Yeah, I know, you're going to stuff me in a basket and leave on the doorstep of an orphanage."

"Only if you're lucky."

Rukia bit her lip to keep from laughing. Hisana sat down, her angry look transforming into more of a sad one as she looked between her sister and Ichigo; neither teen noticed.

_They knew this living arrangement wasn't forever, that was the only reason Rukia even agreed to it in the first place. Besides, they hate each other, Ichigo will be glad to get out and Rukia will be glad to see him go_.

Except Hisana knew this wasn't true. No matter what they said, it was obvious that the two had become more fond of each other than they were willing to let on. The fact that neither of them had even _mentioned_ that today was the one month mark was proof enough of that. If they really wanted to get away from each other, they would have been counting down to this day.

Which just made it all the more difficult for Hisana to say what she knew she had to say.

"So…" The uncertain, uneasy tone drew both teens' attentions more quickly than it would have otherwise. Rukia and Ichigo looked up at the same time, similar confusion shining in their very different eyes. Hisana also noted a certain bit of fear in Rukia's eyes. She knew that tone too well.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing," Hisana reassured her sister's hastily. "It's just…you two _do_ know that today makes the one month mark since Kurosaki-kun came to live with us, right?" Her statement was met with blank looks. "I started looking at foster homes today," she added pointedly, her gaze turning solely to Ichigo. Understanding dawned on them both at the same time.

"Oh."

It was Rukia who spoke the mono-syllabic word before returning her attention to her food. "Jeez Nee-san, I thought something terrible had happened. Don't scare me like that."

Hisana's eyes slid over to look at her sister, who was glaring at her plate like _it_ was somehow to blame for the world's problems. Ichigo didn't say anything as he returned his attention to _his_ food as well.

It was a very quiet supper after that.

A couple hours later found Hisana standing in front of her sister's closed bedroom door. Both Rukia and Ichigo had retreated to their rooms after the quiet meal, neither speaking as they confined themselves behind closed doors. Hisana suddenly found herself wishing she'd waited to bring up the idea of Ichigo leaving. But wasn't it better she say it now?

_Knock-Knock_

"Go away Nee-san," Rukia's muffled voice responded to the tentative knock. Hisana didn't listen, of course. She knocked just to give the illusion of respect for Rukia's privacy. "Why do I even bother?" The raven-haired girl grumbled as Hisana walked in.

"I don't know, why do you?" Hisana teased lightly as she sat down on the edge of the bed; Rukia was sitting at her desk, doing homework. "You didn't get that done earlier?" The sight surprised Hisana just a little.

"No, Ichigo was being annoying. Guess that's something I won't have to worry about anymore, huh? It'll be quiet in the afternoons again." There was a very bitter tone in Rukia's voice. Clearly the idea of quiet didn't appeal to her.

"Rukia…" Hisana sighed, feeling a surge of pity. "You knew it wasn't forever."

"No kidding." The sarcasm in Rukia's voice was scathing. Hisana actually flinched a bit, surprised by the acidic tone. Sure, her sister could be a bit…_mean_ sometimes. But Hisana couldn't remember the last time the girl had reacted to something in this manner. Maybe it was just a sign of how effective the last month had been.

"Come on Rukia, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"Why do you always think something's wrong?" Rukia snapped. "Honestly Nee-san, I think you missed your calling; if you want to listen to people whine about how terrible their lives are, you should have become a therapist."

Hisana raised an eyebrow at Rukia, who missed the look completely. "If you're in a bad mood, don't take it out on me."

"You came in here."

"To talk to you, not to listen to your sarcasm."

"The two things are one in the same." Hisana sighed. Okay, so maybe she was asking for this. She knew when Rukia was unhappy she lashed out at the closest living object. It was the way she was. Hisana _was_ only trying to help, though…

"You know it wouldn't be such a bad thing to talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about." Now she was just deliberately being stubborn. Hisana wouldn't deny that she found it just a _little_ annoying.

"If you're going to miss him, it's okay to admit it." At this point, nothing should have surprised Hisana. But she _was_ surprised when Rukia started laughing. It was a hollow, empty sound, and it worried Hisana just a little. "I must have missed the joke. How about letting me in?"

"Why in the world would I _miss_ him? He's absolutely infuriating, he goes out of his way to insult me, he's constantly trying to distract me from my work…I can think of absolutely no reason at all why I shouldn't be absolutely thrilled to get him the hell out of my hair."

"Right." A bit of sarcasm leaked into Hisana's voice. "So why aren't you?"

Silence. "Go away Nee-san," Rukia finally said. Hisana wasn't an idiot; she could recognize a defeat. She sighed as she stood up, slowly making her way out of the room. She'd try again later.

Rukia kept her head down as Hisana left. She hadn't turned around the entire time her sister had been in the room. If she had, Hisana would have seen the tears slowly working their way down Rukia's cheeks.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So honestly, who forgot that Ichigo wasn't actually living with Hisana and Rukia? Hehe…yeah, I know, I'm mean. Sorry for the long gap in the updates, I've recently come into a job, which is taking up almost as much of my time as school. I'm going to try and keep updates as timely as possible…keep an eye on my profile for details. And review, please! — Sam


	11. No Goodbyes

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XI. No Goodbyes**_

"…And you'll be moving in next week." Ichigo tuned back in to whatever Hisana had been saying right at the very end. He didn't bother responding. "Hell-_ooo_? Kurosaki-kun?"

"I'm listening," Ichigo half-lied, half-promised. The truth was, he wasn't really interested in what Hisana was saying, whatever it was. Something about a new foster home, and location, and transferring schools and blah…blah…blah…

"Don't look so excited," Hisana tried to tease, poking the boy's forehead. Her smile faded when she got no response.

Ichigo was about as okay with this moving thing as Rukia seemed to be. Neither teen had spoken more than one or two words at a time, and usually in response to something Hisana had said. Neither of them would express how they felt, of course. They were both too proud and too stubborn for them to even consider such a thing.

But that didn't make it any less obvious that they were upset.

It would have been so much more ideal if Ichigo could have just stayed with them. Not that Hisana hadn't pursued that route, especially after seeing the way this whole thing was effecting Ichigo and her baby sister.

The answer had been absolutely not. Hisana wasn't registered as a foster parent, and anyways Ichigo was her charge; she was supposed to make sure he was taken care of, but not get emotionally attached.

Okay, so she'd screwed up just a little in the aspect of her job description. In her defense though, she wasn't the _only_ one that had gotten attached.

"Bye-bye Nee-chan!" Makoto chirped as Rukia left. She managed to force a smile for the boy, who was grinning widely, waving to her.

"See ya later, Makoto. Bye Momo-san."

"Bye Rukia-san," Hinamori sighed as she watched her friend go. She'd just spent the last three hours trying unsuccessfully to force the girl to actually (God forbid) _talk_ about her feelings. As if it was such a terrible thing.

Rukia stared at the ground as she made her way down the street, kicking boredly at a rock. It had been very annoying, spending the afternoon with Hinamori, but the girl refused to let her leave. Doing homework had been murder. Rukia was surprised she'd managed to get all her work done. It was something to be proud of, she supposed. Except now she had nothing to do when _Hisana_ would want to talk later on. And Hisana was sure to want to talk. People liked to talk too much, in Rukia's opinion.

_"Why hello there Rukia. It's a pleasure to meet you."_

_Rukia raised her weary eyes to look up at the silver-haired man standing over her. Ichimaru Gin was giving her a large smile; he looked a bit like a snake to the girl. She was frightened despite the smile._

_"Just call me if she gives you any trouble."_

_"Oh nonsense." Ichimaru waved Aizen off, reaching out a skinny arm. "I'm sure we'll get on just fine, right Rukia?"_

_Disturbingly long fingers made contact with Rukia's head. She shuddered under Ichimaru's touch._

"Hey Rukia."

Hisana's voice made Rukia jump; she jerked herself back to reality, her head snapping up to look at her sister, who instantly frowned at the haunted look she saw in Rukia's violet eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked at once, setting her book aside and standing up, crossing the room to stand in front of Rukia, who closed her eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath.

"Nothing. It's nothing. I'm um…going to go up to my room. And I ate at Momo-san's," she added as Hisana opened her mouth to most likely say something about supper. Hisana frowned as she watched the girl walk away.

Rukia felt a bit more comfortable in the safety of her room. She tossed her bag aside and curled up under the covers, resting her head on the pillow and closing her eyes. She wasn't sure why she was tired; it wasn't like she'd lost out in the sleep department or anything. It was just the past few days…no matter how long she slept or what time she slept until, she was always utterly exhausted. It was as if sleep didn't understand the function it was supposed to perform.

"Whatever," she muttered after a minute, burying her face in her pillow. She laid there for almost an hour, eventually rolling over and staring at the ceiling, tucking her arms under her head. Eventually she grabbed a book and went back downstairs, settling down on the couch (Hisana had retreated into her own room some few minutes earlier) and reading. At one point she fell asleep.

* * *

Ichigo sighed as his eyes fluttered open; he was tired, but sleep didn't seem willing to come to him in anything more than short spurts. It really sucked.

After a moment Ichigo rolled out of bed, intent on getting a glass of water and going back to bed. He stopped halfway into the kitchen when what sounded like a low, pained, whimpering sound reached his ears. He turned towards the living room, narrowing his eyes a bit.

_What the_…

Curiosity killed the cat. But sometimes Ichigo couldn't help himself. He made his way into the living room, flicking the light on and looking around. He was surprised when his eyes landed on Rukia's tiny form, curled up under a blanket. She was fidgeting a bit in her sleep, her face twisted into a look of pain and horror.

Ichigo hesitated for a moment before kneeling down next to the couch, shaking Rukia gently. "Hey, Rukia, wake up. Come on, wake up…"

It took a minute for Rukia's eyes to fill open; Ichigo could clearly see the panic reflected her violet orbs. She didn't seem quite aware of where she was.

"Rukia?" The girl in question jumped, her eyes swiveling around to look at Ichigo, who was looking at her with some amount of concern.

"I-Ichigo!" She stuttered in surprise, rubbing her eyes quickly. "I…oh…I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, no," Ichigo assured her quickly. "I was awake, I was just getting a drink…are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Rukia spoke a little too fast; Ichigo didn't believe her for a second. He stood up, moving himself to the couch. He was careful to leave a fair amount of distance between the two of them though. It just felt like a good idea. "Jesus, why didn't Nee-san wake me up…?"

Ichigo let her mutter, clearly annoyed, for a few minutes before saying, "What were you dreaming about?"

Rukia stiffened visibly, and Ichigo felt bad for asking. He was well aware that it was none of his business, but…at the same time, it wasn't very often that he saw Rukia actually visibly shaken and scared. The whole idea was just foreign to him.

"You should go back to bed, it's late."

Ichigo frowned, shifting his eyes to look at the ceiling. He couldn't actually preach Rukia on the importance of talking about things that bothered her; he was completely guilty of the exact same thing. And she would throw that in his face if he decided to push her.

"I'm not tired," he said instead, leaning back on the couch and tucking his arms behind his head. Rukia shot him a look out of the corner of her eye before looking forward again.

"You should still sleep."

"You just like telling me what to do, don't you?" Ichigo asked, chuckling a bit. He was expecting to at least get something of a laugh. No such luck though.

"Bet you'll be glad to get away from it, huh?" Ichigo blinked as he realized what she was really asking: would he be happy to get away from her?

He struggled to answer nonchalantly. "Getting away from it just to go to another foster home doesn't sound like much fun," he replied as casually as he could, even throwing in a shrug for good measure. "It's not like I'll be there for long anyways."

"You should give them a chance," Rukia argued. "You don't know what they're like, for all you know you could be really happy there."

Ichigo snorted in disbelief. "Doubt it."

"I was." _That_ stopped Ichigo's thoughts in his tracks. He turned his head to look at Rukia, who was looking at him through serious eyes.

"Wait a sec…_you_ know these people?"

Rukia sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Urahara Kisuke and Shihouin Yoruichi. It was the last foster home I stayed in before Nee-san finally got me out. I had a…_really_ bad time in the home before them, I was so sure no matter what happened, they were going to be just as awful, but…I was actually really happy there. As happy as I could be, at least. They had two other kids that they had adopted before, but they 'd read my record, they knew enough not to make the suggestion with me. They just let me do what I want and took care of me and when my sister finally came to take me home, they let me go. They were good though. _Really_ good. If it came down to there was no way Nee-san would ever get me back, I might not have minded if they had wanted to adopt me."

Ichigo remembered what Hisana had told him about Rukia's experience in the system. "What about…I mean, what happened with the home you were in before that?" He asked hesitantly. He wasn't expecting answers, of course. It would have been way too easy.

Rukia chuckled humorlessly. "It was hell," she said flatly, a strange tone ringing in her voice. "What happened there…" Her voice drifted off, and she shivered. Ichigo rested a hand on her shoulder; he was a bit surprised when she didn't pull away from his grip. "It doesn't matter now. I was the last kid they got to, Nee-san worked overtime to make sure of that."

Ichigo chewed on his tongue for a moment before speaking again. "Do you…want to talk about it?"

He wasn't surprised — though maybe a little disappointed — when Rukia shook her head. "Lets put it this way: my social worker used his position to his and his friend's advantage. It was sick."

Ichigo didn't doubt that. He decided it was in his best interest not to push the matter any more. Rukia leaned back on the couch, letting her head fall back and closing her eyes, pulling in a deep breath. "Guess I'm just not meant to sleep tonight," she grumbled, sounding a little annoyed. Ichigo chuckled as he leaned back as well. Somehow while they'd been talking, he'd inched closer to her, until there was barely any air left between them.

Neither would ever admit which one was the first to fall asleep.

* * *

Hisana's heart half-soared and half-broke when she walked downstairs the next morning and was greeted by the most adorable sight her eyes had beheld in quite awhile.

Ichigo and Rukia. Asleep on the couch. The latter curled up into a tight ball, her head on the former's shoulder, while the former had an arm wrapped protectively around the latter. "What am I going to do with you two?" She laughed quietly as she went back upstairs, retrieved her camera from her room, and quickly went down again to take a picture. Blackmail material secured, Hisana slipped back up to her room to get dressed, and, more importantly, to ensure she wouldn't be caught. Because surely both of them would kill her if they knew she'd seen them.

* * *

"Got everything, Kurosaki-kun?"

"Yup." Ichigo sighed as he tossed his duffle bag into the backseat, closing the door. Hisana bit her lip before turning away from the boy to look at her sister, who was sitting on the front step, watching them with absolutely no interest.

"I'll bring home pizza."

"I figured as much."

Ichigo paused in the process of climbing into the front seat of Hisana's car, his eyes zeroing in on Rukia, who was staring at the street, her arms resting on her knees, her legs drawn up to her chest. Finally he walked away from the car, walking back towards the house — towards Rukia. Hisana smiled faintly as she climbed into the car and made a show of turning it on and setting the radio, trying to give them as much privacy as they could.

Rukia didn't move as Ichigo sat down next to her. They hadn't spoken much since the night on the couch; neither of them knew what to say anymore.

"Try and give them a chance?" Rukia finally asked. Ichigo rolled his eyes, laughing a bit.

"You sound like your sister."

"Ouch. If ever there was a lowest form of an insult, I think that might be it."

They were both laughing now, relishing in the last few moments of what had come to pass as normal in the last month of their lives. Hisana was trying very hard not to watch them — and failing completely.

"Don't cause too much trouble."

"Thanks _Mom_."

Rukia bit back a comment about how being Ichigo's mother was probably a very _un_rewarding job, choosing instead to say, "Make sure you call your sisters once in awhile. They worry about you, you know."

"I know." Boy did he know. "I should…probably go," he finally said, starting to stand. "Hisana-san probably wants to get back before dark." Ichigo paused for a moment, feeling his face heat up a bit as he said, "Hey…Rukia?"

"Yeah?" She didn't take her eyes off the street.

"Take care of yourself." He barely mumbled the words, but somehow knew that Rukia had heard him, even with her lack of response. "So…"

"Don't."

The single word surprised Ichigo. "Don't what?"

"Don't say goodbye. Goodbye is too final. I don't like it."

Ichigo decided not to point out that this was probably the last time they would see each other anyways, so what was the harm? But hey, if that was what she wanted… "All right. See you around, then."

And with that he headed towards the car, climbing in and shutting the door with a little more force than what was strictly necessary. Rukia shifted her eyes, watching the car pull out of the driveway. Ichigo was staring out his window now, his chin resting in his hand, elbow propped against the door. Hisana, however, saw Rukia watching and gave her a sad smile. Rukia didn't acknowledge the gesture, but simply watched until the car had driven out of sight.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So…clearly fanfiction has _not_ been a priority in my life as of late. Many, many, many apologies for that. I know, I'm always apologizing these days. And I'm always asking you to bear with me, I know. But could you, please? Winter break will be here before we know it…anyways review please? — Sam


	12. A Long Day

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XII. A Long Day**_

"And this is your room. Ururu and Jinta are down the hall, Kisuke and I are a couple of doors down from them. I wouldn't recommend going in the kids' room though unless you want a water balloon in the face, Jinta booby-traps the door." Ichigo was barely listening to the dark-skinned woman standing next to him; he looked disinterestedly around the room designated to be his. "Any questions?"

"No."

Yoruichi didn't seem put off by his shortness. "All right then. I'll let you get settled in, Kisuke went to get food, we're pretty much a take-out food family here. He should be back in a few."

"All right," then, in an attempt to be polite, "Thank you."

"Of course." Yoruichi smiled slightly before backing out of the room, leaving Ichigo to himself. He threw his bag down on the bed (already made, complete with a fluffy quite comforter), and then threw himself down after it, letting himself fall face-first into the pillow.

The night passed uneventfully. Urahara Kisuke turned out to be a nice, almost overly so, man with a wide smile and a green and white striped hat falling over his eyes, giving him a mysterious look. His entire demeanor gave off the aura of him being completely uncaring about anything. Of the two kids, the black-haired girl, Ururu, avoided Ichigo mostly, peaking around the doors of rooms he was in before entering, her hands clasped tightly behind her back, her eyes on the floor. Jinta, on the other hand, confronted Ichigo head-on, asking all kinds of questions and sneering when Ichigo didn't answer. He was a lot of attitude in a small package. Ichigo kind of wanted to hit him by the time he went to bed.

It was nice to be able to escape into his room. Ichigo sighed as he walked over to the window, looking outside. It would be such an easy escape, the entire house was one story.

_"You should give them a chance."_

Ichigo groaned as Rukia's voice echoed back from the depths of his mind. Yeah, yeah, he should give them a chance. But who the hell was saying he couldn't leave just for the night and come back before anyone caught him, right?

Cold air whipped through the room as Ichigo shoved the window open. He barely noticed as he climbed onto the sill and jumped out, pulling the black hood of his sweatshirt over his head and shoving his hands into his pockets before disappearing into the night.

* * *

Renji sighed as he twisted the cap off his bottle of soda and took a deep sip. The streets could be so _boring_ when he was alone. Where the hell was Ichigo? This was the longest he'd ever stayed away.

A hand rested itself on Renji's shoulder, and he jumped, whirling around and automatically taking a swing. "Watch it!" Ichigo growled as he ducked. "Son of a bitch, you almost hit me!"

"Well why the hell did you sneak up on me like that?" Renji shot back, annoyed. "You should've known better, remember last time I actually _hit_ you?"

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure I hit you back. Who regretted it more, I wonder?" Renji cringed inwardly, remembering the black eye he'd sported for almost three weeks after Ichigo had hit him.

"Ass. So where the hell have you been?" Ichigo shrugged as he moved to stand beside Renji, and they made their way down the street.

"Around. My social worker had me at _her_ house for the last month, made getting away kind of hard." Renji snorted, clearly amused by this.

"You're so difficult your _social worker_ had to take you in. That's bad, Ichigo. Real bad." Ichigo's response was to shove Renji away. "So I'm guessing your back in a foster home now?"

"Yeah." Ichigo shrugged. "First night there. I think I'm going to go back, I just needed to get out for a little while—" He stopped when he realized he'd left Renji about three feet behind him. He turned back to his red-headed friend, who was gaping at him, shocked. "What?"

"You're…going…_back_?" Renji repeated in a strangled voice. "What the hell do you mean you're going _back_? You _never_ go back. Once you leave, you leave." Ichigo shrugged again, trying to write it off. Renji wouldn't let it go though. "Jesus Christ, what _happened_ to you at your social worker's house?"

Ichigo was surprised — and not all together pleased — when an unwarranted image of a raven-haired, violet-eyed girl flashed through his head. "Nothing," he said, shaking his head, annoyed. The last thing he wanted to think about was freaking _Rukia_. "It's just…nothing. _Nothing_."

"Okay, I get it, nothing." Renji wasn't convinced though. There was definitely something different about the way his long-time friend was acting, the way he was holding himself, the way he was acting in general. There was just something…_off_ about him. Renji couldn't put his finger on it, but something was just _different_.

He wasn't completely sure he liked it.

"Anyways, good to see you're still alive."

"Because I'm sure your every thought was just _consumed_ with how I was doing, and whether or not I was still alive," Renji replied sarcastically. Ichigo smirked.

"Ya caught me man. You're just _all_ I thought about for the last month. If I hadn't found you tonight, and it turned out you'd died, I don't know what I would have done with myself." Renji took a playful swing at Ichigo; he barely had to work to block the blow. "Well that's just great, I express my deepest emotions to you and you try to hit me. You're a jerk, you know that right?"

"And you're an ass."

"And yet you _still_ put up with me. Wonder that says about you?"

"I'm a glutton for punishment. Clearly."

The teens chuckled dryly, Renji taking another swig of his soda. Ichigo had to admit, he'd missed this; aimlessly wandering the streets, talking to (and teasing) Renji, not having to worry about what he said…he'd missed this life, he wouldn't deny it. No matter how insane it seemed to _certain_ raven-haired midgets, there was really nothing wrong with the life Ichigo had made for himself here on the streets.

So then why did he _still_ plan on going back to the Uraharas' at the end of the night?

* * *

Rukia leaned back on the roof, staring blankly at the stars glittering above her head. It had been a long day — too long, really. All she wanted to be doing at that moment was sleeping. But her brain wouldn't turn off long enough for her to lapse into blissful unconsciousness. So instead she went for the next best thing — staring at the stars.

_"The stars are watching over you," Hisana whispered as she allowed her six-year-old sister to cuddle against her. "See?" She raised a hand, one finger extended, tracing patterns in the sky as she spoke. "If you're ever lost, the stars will help you find your way home. Don't forget._"

"Thought I'd find you up here." Rukia sat up, surprised to find herself looking into the eyes that were so similar to hers; the eyes of her older sister. Her guardian. Her savior. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" Hisana asked as she climbed onto the roof, crawling over to sit next to Rukia, who went back to staring at the stars.

"I thought you didn't like heights."

"Is _that_ why you come up here?" Hisana asked with a light laugh. "Because you think I won't follow you?"

"I come up here to think. You not following me was just a nice bonus. Now can I help you?"

"Just wondering how you're doing. You didn't talk to me much after I came back from dropping Kurosaki-kun off, you just ate supper and locked yourself in your room."

"Which reminds me, my room was still locked when I came up here and you came up through _my_ window. How'd you get in?"

"Pick-locking is a very handy habit. Remember I used to forget my house-key all the time? Dad bought me that pick-lock kit so I could break in and I wouldn't just be sitting outside until someone else came home."

"I didn't know you ever learned how to use that thing."

"Well it took a while, but I finally figured it out. I'm actually really good at pick-locking now."

"My sister, the future felon. I'm _so_ proud." Hisana responded by slapping Rukia's head lightly.

"Stop trying to distract me."

"I'm trying to distract you because I don't feel like talking," Rukia said, not bothering to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "Maybe you should learn to take a hint."

"Oh I can take a hint," Hisana promised. "I just don't _feel_ like it. There's a difference, you know."

"Yeah. If you can't take a hint it makes you an idiot. If you can and just decide not to, it makes you annoying." Hisana smiled faintly. She was trying to be upbeat, because her sister was clearly upset; clearly she was failing at cheering the teen up.

"You're going to miss him, aren't you?"

At this Rukia rolled her eyes. "I don't _care_, Nee-san. I wish you would get that through your head." Hisana raised an eyebrow at her sister. Right. Because everything about her entire attitude wasn't _screaming_ that she was upset, unhappy, probably mad at Hisana for reasons Hisana, as much as she hated to admit it, completely understood…

"How much did you tell Ichigo about your time in the system?" Hisana asked after a minute, turning her eyes to look at the stars as well. Rukia made a face; that was certainly a strange question…

"I don't know. A bit of this, a bit of that. How much did _you_ tell him?" Hisana winced. Whoops. Busted.

"What…makes you think…"

"You told me all about Ichigo before I even met him. I know you, you would have thought it was only fair that you tell him something about _me_, too. I know all your complexes, Nee-san."

"You certainly do," Hisana mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't tell him anything important, if that's what you're worried about. Just a few little things. Enough for him to get a picture." Hisana hesitated for a moment before saying, "I told him about Kaien-dono." Rukia flinched as if someone had slapped her. Kaien's name was normally a forbidden word. Hisana was surprised even now that Rukia didn't try to hit her. "And about…Aizen." Another flinch, this one more noticeable then the last. "No details though. Don't worry."

"I wasn't."

They lapsed into silence, both staring at the stars now, remembering all the times they had laid under the star-riddled sky, Hisana whispering fairy-tales in her baby sister's ear while Rukia was lulled to sleep but the older girl's reassuring voice.

Hisana really wished she still had that power now. The power to fight off the demons that haunted her little sister.

It had been so much easier when they were kids.

* * *

"You know we don't have curfews in this house. If you want to go out, going through your bedroom window isn't really necessary." Ichigo jumped and turned to face Urahara, who was sitting on the desk tucked away in the corner of the room. "I guess I should be glad you came back, knowing your record. I wasn't really looking forward to calling your social worker and telling her I lost you on the first night, imagine how that would have looked, eh?"

The blonde man chuckled, as if was amused by the situation. Ichigo stared at him, unsure of what to say. Well he didn't seem _angry_ that Ichigo had snuck out, at least. But then again, who could tell? This guy was clearly insane. Certifiably so.

"How did you become a foster parent, exactly?" Ichigo asked. Urahara shrugged.

"Honestly the fact mystifies me as much as it does you. I guess people just like me, you know? Anyways I've kept Ururu and Jinta alive for the last five years, and I kept your friend Rukia in good health when _she_ was with us. So I must be doing _something _right, right?" Urahara chuckled again at the look on Ichigo's face. "Hisana told me you were close to her sister. I still remember Rukia well, she was an interesting girl."

"Has anyone ever told you you're a creep?"

Another chuckle. "Not exactly in those terms, though Yoruichi _does_ feel the need to remind me every now and then that I scare people who don't know me. I don't scare you, do I Ichigo-kun?" Ichigo snorted.

"Not a chance. You're just weird."

"Better than being scary," Urahara said as he stood up, heading for the door. "For the record, I meant what I said before about not having to go out through the window. As long as you promise to come back, you're free to come and go as you please — out the front door. Not that I can actually make you _promise_ to come back. If you decide to leave through the front door and not come back, that's your choice too. I really can't imagine how that conversation will go with your social worker though, she seems quite fond of you, I hate to think what she would do to me if I were to lose you…"

Urahara shook his head as he left. Ichigo stared after him, his mouth practically on the floor. What an odd…_odd_ man. Though Ichigo would admit, the idea of _not_ having to sneak out through his window was certainly an appealing one.

He sighed as he fell back on his bed, staring at the ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes. It had been one _freaking_ long day. He didn't like it. Days had never been _long_ before. They had been a minor annoyance, another marking of time passing. But they had never been _long_.

He wasn't sure he liked the difference.

* * *

**Author's Note:**…/is shot/ I know, I know…you'd think with one less story I'd have more time, huh? Anyways I _could_ apologize for not updating, but you've heard it all before, so I think I'll save us all a lot of time and just promise to try and update sooner next time. Then again, who knows. We're moving into finals time now — two ten-page papers, four exams. So I'm not going to make any promises and just hope you all understand. Review, please? — Sam


	13. Buried Past

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XIII. A Buried Past**_

_"Hello, Rukia-san."_

_Rukia looked up from the book she was reading, something in her chest automatically tightening at the sight of Gin, standing in her bedroom door. Something about the man _bothered_ her; she found it hard to breathe every time she laid eyes on him._

_"H-Hello Ichimaru-sama," she stuttered out, setting her book aside and sitting up slowly. "Do you need something?"_

_"I just wanted to see what you were doing. Are you busy?"_

_"Um…no?" Rukia's uncertainty made the answer into a question. She wasn't sure why it mattered if she was busy. Did Gin want her to do something?_

"Rukia!"

The girl jumped as her sister hit her lightly over the head, effectively snapping her back to reality. "You have my attention, Nee-san," Rukia grumbled, rubbing the injured area and throwing Hisana a glare. The woman grinned in return.

"I'm going out for the night. Make sure you get to bed at a decent hour. Don't burn down the house. All right?"

"No promises," Rukia replied sarcastically. Hisana rolled her eyes. "Going out with Kuchiki-sama again?"

"None of your business." But Hisana was grinning. Yeah, she was definitely going out with him. It was Rukia's turn to roll her eyes. Hisana was far too predictable sometimes. "You gonna be okay by yourself?" Hisana asked suddenly, her voice taking on a concerned tone. She wasn't going to say what they were both thinking; that Rukia had been out of it for the last couple of weeks.

Ever since Ichigo left.

The nightmares were back in full force, coming almost every night and sending Rukia careening back into reality, often screaming. She spent a lot of her days lost in the fog that the nightmares left behind, and it was starting to affect her everyday life.

"I'll be fine. Go have a life — one of us should. I'll still be here when you get back."

Hisana stared at Rukia for a long time. After a moment she sat down on the edge of her sister's bed, wrapping an arm around the girl's thin shoulders and hugging her tightly. "You know I have his number," Hisana said after a moment. "You could call him."

"Good_bye_ Nee-san," Rukia said pointedly. Thankfully Hisana took the hint and ran with it. She stood up, giving Rukia small, sad smile before she slipped out of the room. Rukia waited until she heard the low tenor of voices down in the living room disappear, the front door close, a car start and pull out of the driveway to head downstairs and heat up a slice of leftover pizza.

_Sometimes she begged. She didn't really think it would help — but begging was the only weapon she had to fight back when one man or another had her pinned against the bed, moving up and down as they did things she didn't quite understand — but it hurt, and it didn't feel right, and she knew she didn't like it._

_And so she begged. But it never did any good._

Rukia shuddered, suddenly feeling sick. She tossed out her barely eaten slice, turning in a slow circle for a moment before going into the living room to get her schoolbag. She still had homework to do. She was falling too far behind in everything. She had to get over this — whatever it was.

She didn't know why she was letting it bother her so much.

_Things change, Rukia. Time to get over it. Let it go._

She'd done it before. She could do it again. No problem.

* * *

Ichigo rocked back on his feet, pulling in a deep, nervous breath as he prepared to do what was probably the stupidest thing he had ever even _considered_ doing.

He raised his fist, rapping his knuckles against the wooden door in front of him.

After a moment the door flew open, revealing a tired and — once she saw who was on her front doorstep — _surprised_ Rukia. "What…the…what are you doing here?" She demanded, her eyes wide and shocked. Ichigo shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Just uh…passing through?"

Rukia made a disbelieving noise in the back of her throat. "You've been with them what, all of two weeks? And already you're running away? Strange place to run to, by the way, your social worker's house—"

"I'm not running away," Ichigo interrupted, irritated. "I told Urahara I would probably be out all night, I have every intention of going back."

Well _that_ certainly shut Rukia up. She blinked a couple of times, staring at Ichigo as if she hadn't quite comprehended what he had said. "You're…actually going to go back?" She sounded as if he had just told her the moon was actually made of cheese.

"Don't sound so shocked, I'm a guy of my word, and I said I'd give this a chance, right?" Rukia just shook her head, still looking a bit shocked. "So are you going to make me stand out here all night or can I come in?"

For a moment he was sure she would slam the door in his face and lock it, just to be annoying. But finally she stepped aside, allowing him inside. Ichigo smiled faintly as he walked in, and Rukia shut the door. He'd missed this tiny, comfortable house more than he cared to admit. Not that the Urahara house wasn't great in its own way. But there was something about this place that he really liked.

Of course, how much of that had to do with the raven-haired girl standing at his side he didn't care to think about. "I wasn't interrupting, was I?" He asked when he saw Rukia's schoolbooks strewn about the coffee table.

"Nah, just doing some homework. Not that you know what that is, I'm sure." Ichigo smirked.

"Work you do at home. Never really got the concept of it, you know?"

"Oh I know." Rukia rolled her eyes, the hint of a smile pulling at her lips. After a moment the smile faded. "Seriously, Ichigo. Why are you here?"

Ichigo pretended to look hurt. "Why, do you not want me here? Because I can leave…"

"Oh shut up," Rukia said as Ichigo started towards the door. "I just can't figure out how you don't have _anything_ better to do with your time—" She paused mid-sentence as she thought about this statement. "Actually, I _know_ you don't have anything better to do with your time, you don't have a life. So scratch that."

"You're hilarious."

"I know."

Ichigo scowled as Rukia laughed. He wasn't really mad though.

He was really just happy to be back.

Homework was abandoned in favor of heating up the leftover pizza from the night before. They sat down in the kitchen, across the table from one another, as Ichigo told Rukia about her first couple of admittedly strange weeks at the Uraharas, and Rukia confirmed his stories with her own, agreeing that Urahara was indeed crazy, and she hadn't known the kids when _she_ had lived at the house, Urahara hadn't adopted them yet, but they sounded like the kind of kids he would want to take in.

"I don't know _how_ he ended up with Yoruichi-san, she's actually _sane_ — what does she see in him?"

Rukia laughed. "I actually asked her that once, I was curious. Apparently before they met he was working as a cop, they met when she was in college, someone broke into her apartment and he was called in to check it out. It turned out some ex-boyfriend of hers had broken in, he was a stalker, Urahara ended up being assigned to guard her and…well, the rest is history."

"Nothing like bonding over a stalker," Ichigo commented dryly, tearing apart his pizza crust.

"Crazy meeting circumstances for crazy people." They both laughed shortly. "So other than being completely insane," Rukia moved on after a moment, "do you like it there? With them?"

Ichigo shrugged. "They're pretty lenient. I could pretty much never go home, as long as I go to school and pop in every once in a while to let them know I'm alive."

"Don't think it's that easy. I just told you Urahara used to be a cop, he has spies all over the city. Even if he can't see you, he knows what you're doing. Always."

"That's creepy."

"That's Urahara," Rukia replied with a shrug. "He always knows so much sure than he should. It's like he's a mind-reader."

"Noticed that."

Rukia laughed a bit. "It's incredibly inconvenient when you feel like he can tell whatever is going on in your head. Makes you feel like it's unsafe to think about certain things."

Ichigo paused with a piece of his crust halfway to his mouth, staring at Rukia for a long time, trying to pick apart the obvious vagueness of the statement. "Certain things?" He repeated finally, guardedly. Rukia looked up from her plate, meeting his gaze for a moment before reaching for another slice of pizza.

"He certainly doesn't leave any room for dwelling on the past."

She left it at that. Ichigo sighed as he reached for another slice as well. With the silence that had fallen, he had a chance to really look at Rukia for the first time since he'd stepped into the house. She looked tired, dark circles contrasting sharply against her naturally pale skin. She hadn't been sleeping — not well, at any rate. Ichigo was dying to ask _why_, but he knew that would only shut her down.

So he did the next best thing.

"I still have nightmares, you know," he said carefully, watching Rukia out of the corner of his eye as he spoke. "About the night my parents died. It started in the kitchen, my mother was in there doing…something, I don't remember what. Baking probably, she loved to bake. The doctor said there was no way they would have been able to save her. My dad might have lived…if he hadn't gone back in for me. I was up in my room, my sisters were downstairs, he got them outside then ran back inside and got me. If he hadn't gone back inside—"

"You would have died," Rukia interrupted quietly. Ichigo shrugged, no longer interested in his pizza.

"It's not always easy being left alive."

"_That_ I know too well," Rukia mumbled, surprising Ichigo. He hadn't been expecting a response to that.

"Were you with your parents when the died?" He asked after a moment, knowing full-well that whatever was going on in her head, it had nothing to do with her parents' death. But it was better to play stupid.

"No. I just know that sometimes it really sucks to be alive."

"Now _that's_ a little depressing." And a little disturbing, he wasn't going to lie. Rukia had a talent for being blunt and to the point, but this was just…

"Am I wrong?" Ichigo didn't answer for a long time.

"So if not your parents…" He started slowly, finally deciding to throw caution to the wind, "what _did_ happen?"

Rukia shifted her eyes from her pizza to Ichigo; it was impossible for him to figure what was going on in those violet orbs.

"I promise, it's not a story you want to hear," she finally said. She didn't sound angry that he was pushing her; on the contrary, she sounded almost…_defeated_. It was kind of sad.

"Isn't that something that's _my_ decision to make?"

It was a bold thing to say, Ichigo would admit. He wasn't even sure how they had ended up here — he certainly hadn't come to the house with the intention of dredging up all these bad memories, on his part_ and_ hers.

But one way or another, they had gotten to this point. And now he was trying to open a door that probably should have stayed closed.

"There's a reason people bury the past, you know," Rukia said quietly, pushing her plate aside.

"Yeah, they don't want to talk about it. But I'm sure you've done just as much face time with counselors and therapists as I have, and I'm sure they've told you the same thing they all tell me — don't bury it."

"It's easier that way," was Rukia's simple, quiet answer.

"Is it?"

She didn't answer.

* * *

**Author's Note:** There is no possible way I can say _sorry_ enough. I can't believe it's been over a month since I updated, I got so carried away with everything else going on, finals and work and I've recently found myself engulfed in another fandom, and…yikes. I'll try to do better with the next update, I promise. Review if you don't hate me too much? — Sam


	14. Live With The Past

**Beginning Notes (Please Read): **As you've probably already noticed, I changed this story's rating to an M, and while this chapter is the only one that's really going to warrant that rating, it' contains references to child molestation and abuse. Tread lightly. If you don't think you can handle it, don't read. If you're underage and have a parent who monitors your internet action, well…I really don't feel like getting an angry email from an irate parent. So like I said, tread lightly.

* * *

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…  
__**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XIV. Living With The Past**_

"His name was Ichimaru Gin."

Ichigo's head snapped up. He wasn't sure where the words had come from, or what had compelled Rukia to speak; they'd been sitting on the couch, channel surfing. Neither had spoken since Rukia had insisted things were better left buried.

Apparently she'd changed her mind, though.

"Sorry?"

Rukia sighed deeply, closing her eyes and pressing her lips together for a moment. "My second to last foster home…the first foster home my second social worker put me in. _His_ name was Aizen Sousuke." Ichigo had to remind himself not to inform Rukia that he already knew as much. He wasn't about to get Hisana into trouble. "Aizen and Ichimaru…they weren't good people. Do you remember what I told you before?"

It took Ichigo a moment of thinking to pinpoint exactly what she was talking about.

_"Let's put it this way: my social worker used his position to his and his friend's advantage. It was sick."_

"Yeah," he finally said as her words from his last night in the house popped into his head. " Yeah, I remember."

Rukia hesitated as she opened her mouth to speak again. She still wasn't completely sure she was doing the right thing, opening herself up. She didn't tell anyone these things, besides the therapist Hisana had forced her to go to for almost a year. And even _that_ hack-job had only been given the barest of details.

She had a feeling she wouldn't get away with _bare details_ in Ichigo's case.

"Nee-san did a lot of research, she found out that for years Aizen had been using his position as a social worker to find kids for himself and his friend…they'd been sexually abusing kids since before Aizen had become a social worker. It just became a lot more convenient for them once they had easy access to children."

Ichigo was vaguely aware of the fact that his mouth was on the floor. He forced it to close, glad that Rukia didn't seem to have noticed. She curled up tightly, her legs pressed against her chest, arms around her knees. "It was pretty ingenious, when you really stop to think about it," she mumbled after a second. "Nobody cares about kids in the foster system, except maybe their social workers, and even that's iffy sometimes. If your social worker is directly _involved_ in the abuse, it'll never get reported." She shrugged wearily.

"How…" Ichigo hesitated as he tried to figure out if it was okay to ask what was on his mind. His head was reeling from everything she was telling him. He was afraid of saying the wrong thing, afraid she would shut down and refuse to say anything else about the subject. And he _really_ didn't want her to shut down. "I mean, how long…did they…"

"Six months." Rukia's response to his unasked question was baffling. "They didn't usually keep kids for that long, six months in one foster home is rare, after all. They usually made up a reason for Ichimaru to give up the kid so they could keep suspicion off themselves. But — as they constantly liked to remind me — there was something about me they _liked_. Something that kept them from giving me up."

_Now_ Ichigo was sure he was going to be sick. He curled his fingers into tight fists, resisting the urge to punch something. Rukia was staring at the wall across the room, her eyes distant and unseeing. "The…the first time it was…just Ichimaru." She blinked a bit, her eyes suddenly shining a bit more brightly. "He came into my room, he sat down on my bed, he was just…just talking to me…but he kept moving closer to me, he had one arm around my shoulder, he kept rubbing my arm." She shuddered, the feeling of Ichimaru's long, cold fingers against her skin drifting over the five years that separated her from that moment.

She didn't jump, though she was definitely startled, when a gentle, hesitant, _warm_ hand rested itself on her shoulder, effectively warding off the memories she spent much of her time pretending didn't exist. "I didn't really understand at first what was going on. I just knew it was wrong. I…I called Aizen one day when Ichimaru was out, he said he would come over…he got there at the same time Ichimaru came home."

Not that Ichigo didn't already know where this story was going. But god, it was still painful to hear, to know how it would end. And it was worse to watch Rukia as she told the story, re-counted the details of her torture. Because really, that's what it was. Torture.

Then and now.

"It took them awhile to get tired of me, to want new blood. I never did figure out what it was about they liked so much, but…they lost interest. For a few months before I went to Ichimaru's I'd been bounced between foster homes that could have cared less about me. I found out later that's what he always did; he'd send the kids to neglectful homes, they'd be starved for attention by the time they got to Ichimaru, they didn't protest when he got close to him. They — _we_ — would never realize anything was wrong until it was too late."

Suddenly…jail _really_ didn't sound good enough for these bastards. They deserved to die. Slowly. And painfully.

Ichigo only wished there was a way to make such a thing happen. "Once I got out — away from Aizen and Ichimaru, at least — I kind of…blocked the whole thing out. There was a lot of psychological babble, I don't really remember most of it, I didn't understand _any_ of it, it just basically came down to I forgot everything that happened as a…defense mechanism, or something. Like I said, a lot of psychological mumbo jumbo.

"You remembered eventually." It was such a stupid thing to point out. _Obviously_ she remembered. But Ichigo couldn't think of anything to say. Rukia nodded, her lips pulling into a twisted version of some kind of smile.

"Before Aizen…I had a different social worker, a better one. His name was Shiba Kaien, he was…amazing. He let me see my sister whenever I wanted, if I ever had a problem with a foster family he listened, and he always made sure I went somewhere where I would have a good chance of being happy." Just like Hisana, Ichigo reflected. "Then one day he just…_disappeared_, and I ended up with Aizen. No one would ever tell me what happened to him, not even Nee-san. Finally, about a year ago…I got curious enough to try and found out what had happened. I looked up his name online…found a news article about he and his wife being shot and killed during a mugging." She sighed, opening and closing her eyes a couple of times before continuing to speak. "I guess that…unlocked whatever part of my mind was trying to keep the memories hidden. For a good six months after that I had nightmares literally every night. Hisana wanted to get me some…pills or something so I could sleep without having to worry about the dreams, but I didn't want to. I just…wanted to forget. I still do."

Ichigo could understand that. He knew what it was like to have something bad enough in one's past that you just wanted to forget.

"I'm sorry." The words were so hollow, so not at all enough, considering everything that had just been said. But while Ichigo knew it wasn't strictly necessary that he say anything, he wouldn't have felt right just staying silent, though he was sure she wouldn't have minded it as much.

He was surprised when Rukia actually smiled. "Wanna let me in on the joke?"

"Not a joke. More like cruel, twisted irony. The guy who's seen the ins and outs of the foster system almost as much as I have is the one that's apologizing for the trouble _they_ caused. Like I said — ironic." Ichigo didn't know what to say to that. So instead he moved on to his next question.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Not that he was complaining. After a moment of serious thought, Rukia just shrugged.

"I honestly don't know."

Silence fell, save for the long forgotten TV that was currently singing a cheery tune for one product or another. "Do you want me to go?" Ichigo finally asked. He knew when _he_ divulged deeply personal information (granted it wasn't often), he usually had a burning need to be alone afterwards.

And he was starting to realize just how like himself Rukia really was.

So he was surprised when Rukia shook her head. She didn't elaborate, didn't ask him to stay. But she wasn't kicking him out. And Ichigo certainly wasn't about to leave off his volition.

So he stayed. After another few minutes of silence on both their parts he picked up the remote and switched the TV off. Another hesitant moment, and he inched closer to Rukia, unaware of the fact that his hand was still on her shoulder, that it _had_ been for the last twenty minutes. Rukia closed her eyes as Ichigo brushed against her, and finally she rested her head on his shoulder, looking utterly wiped out.

They were asleep before either of them realized it.

* * *

If Hisana was honest with herself, she wasn't _really_ surprised when she walked into the house, at almost midnight, and found Rukia and Ichigo asleep on the couch. The only surprise was that Ichigo hadn't found his way back here _sooner_. "Oh _boy_," she sighed quietly, shaking her head and smiling as she made her way into the kitchen and picked up the phone, dialing a number she knew by heart.

"_Hell-lloooo_?" She laughed quietly as Urahara Kisuke's overly cheerful voice drifted down the line. Who was _this_ happy at midnight?

"Hello Urahara-san."

"_Oh, Hisana-san!_" Urahara sounded genuinely delighted._ "Calling to check up already? Quite the odd time to be calling, don't you usually make these calls during office hours?_"

"I'm not calling to check in. I just thought you'd like to know you _might_ be missing one of your charges. Kurosaki-kun is currently asleep on my couch."

"_Oh_?" There was a pause, probably as Urahara went to check Ichigo's room. "_Ah, well…what do you know. Now how do you suppose that happened…? Oh, you know, I found the bus schedule on the kitchen counter earlier, I must have left it out when I was looking for the pizza menu earlier…_"

"And Kurosaki-kun just _happened_ to find it?" Hisana asked with a small smile.

"_Yes, exactly! Well, who knew an accidentally left out bus schedule could set in motion any kind of events, right?_"

Hisana made a noise in the back of her throat. "Right, Urahara-san. Well, I'll let you get to bed. I just thought you'd like to know where Kurosaki-kun is. The busses are done running for the night, so it looks like he'll be staying here."

"_Well thank you very much, Hisana-san. I hope it isn't too much trouble. So sorry for this_."

"You know it isn't any trouble. And you're not sorry."

Urahara just laughed lightly before bidding Hisana good night and hanging up. Hisana smiled faintly as she hung up as well. After a moment of thought she made her way back over to the living room, leaning against the doorframe.

Rukia was curled up in a tight ball, her head on Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo's arm, meanwhile, had found its way around Rukia's shoulders, holding her tightly against his side. They looked so…_peaceful_, even more-so than they had the first time Hisana had caught them in much the same position.

It was a peace she hadn't seen in either of them for a long, long time.

"Oh boy," Hisana sighed, tugging at a lock of her hair, looping it around her finger and biting her lip. It was a two hour car ride from Urahara's to Hisana's. She could only imagine how long a bus ride was.

She couldn't imagine what would have force Ichigo to embark on such a journey.

Well, okay, that was a lie, she realized as she watched Rukia, still asleep, begin to relax into Ichigo's grip, her limbs slowly unwinding from their tightly curled position. She _could_ imagine.

And that was the part that kind of worried her.

_Insane. I never expected them to get along _this_ well…for the love of God, every time I saw them together they were biting each other's heads off! When did they get so close, exactly?_

An image of Ichigo's and Rukia's faces, stricken as Hisana told them that Ichigo's month was up, and he was going to a foster home, flashed through Hisana's mind. That had been a good tip-off, of course, that her little sister and their houseguest had gotten a little closer than what was strictly necessary. And she knew Rukia had certainly missed the boy when he was gone. She'd had no idea that the feelings were mutual, though.

Especially not enough to drive Ichigo to take a bus out here.

Apparently somewhere along the line, things had gotten a lot more complicated than Hisana had originally anticipated in relation to the two teenagers.

Well, in their defense…she had nobody to blame for this but herself.

* * *

**Author's Note:**I honestly can't even think of anything funny to say. This chapter was fairly draining to write, as you can probably imagine. It's a little shorter than normal, I'm aware, and I'm sure I'll be hearing about it, but I figure there's probably enough content here to make up for the slight shortness of it. Anyways…can't really think of any fun shameless review plugs, so please just review please, let me know what you think? — Sam


	15. Aftermath

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XV. Aftermath**_

Ichigo was disoriented, to say the least, when he woke up the next morning on Hisana's couch. It took him a very long second to remember how he'd gotten there. "Good morning Kurosaki-kun," Hisana sang as she danced into the living room. She looked amused — to say the least. "Do you mind if I ask why I got home from my date last night and found you sleeping on my couch?"

Ichigo opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to figure out the best way to answer. "I uh…well…you see…" Hisana smiled, a bit mockingly. "Kn-Knock it off!" Ichigo finally stuttered, his face burning red. Hisana laughed. "Where's Rukia?" He muttered after a moment, ducking his head to look at the carpet. It hadn't escaped his notice that he had been alone when he'd woken up.

"She's upstairs taking a shower. She just woke up a couple of minutes ago herself." Hisana couldn't help but be amused by the fact that Ichigo had woken up when Rukia's presence had disappeared from his side. "So…you still haven't answered my question."

"Never said I was going to," Ichigo grumbled as he stood up, stretching his arms over his head and wincing when his joints popped. Hisana cringed.

"God I always hated that sound, my dad used to do it just to annoy me…" She shuddered, shaking her head. "Ugh. Moving on though." Ichigo knew incessant babbling was her way of leading up to talking about something serious. She didn't require any kind of response before she mentioned the serious thing. "So…Rukia threw a lot at you last night, huh?"

Hello serious topic. "She went through hell," Ichigo replied flatly, shoving his hands into his pockets, his wandering eyes drawn to a picture on the side-table; it was of Hisana and Rukia, taken right after Rukia had gotten out of the system.

"Yeah, she did. Everyone has their stories though, right?" Ichigo shifted his eyes to Hisana, who was watching him with a sad expression, her head tilted slightly.

"Don't give me that look," he muttered, looking away again.

"What look? I'm not giving you any look."

"Yeah, ya are. It's the same look you gave me when you found out Hikaru Masao was beating me senseless every time I made a noise out of turn." Hisana frowned at the mention of Ichigo's fourth — and by far worst — foster home.

"I don't have a look."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do — oh who you are, Rukia?" Hisana cut herself off before she could get wrapped up in the most childish fight ever to be invented. "I do not have a look, and I am not giving you any kind of look now."

"Are too."

"Kurosaki-kun!" Ichigo smirked weakly. If anything, he could pride himself on the fact that he still knew how to rile people up — even someone like even-tempered, unruffled Hisana.

It was a sad, but somehow satisfying talent.

Rukia tilted her head back, letting the water stream down over her face, leaving small rivulets in its wake. She closed her eyes, making no effort to grab the shampoo and try washing her hair. She didn't have the energy for the mundane task.

She was an idiot.

That was the thought most prominent in her mind. What had she been thinking, telling Ichigo all of that? Even _Hinamori_, who had been her friend since before they could talk, didn't know anything about the horrors she'd suffered at the hands of Ichimaru Gin and Aizen Sousuke. Nobody but Hisana knew. It should have stayed that way.

She never should have told Ichigo.

_"Why are you telling me all this?"_

No doubt he'd been disgusted by the entire thing, just as Rukia had known he would be — _anyone_ would be. It was an awful story, Rukia knew that better than anyone. It wasn't a story anyone — even someone like Ichigo, who knew the system as well as anyone — could ever really understand.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid_, Rukia berated herself unhappily. She was well aware she had probably just ruined one of the most surprising, most amazing friendships she'd had in a long time.

She was also aware that it bothered her far more than it should have that Ichigo would probably be gone when she got out of the shower.

The water had long run cold before Rukia realized she was shivering. How long she had been standing under the steady stream for, she wasn't sure. Hisana wasn't going to be happy when she found out Rukia had used up all the hot water…

A surprise was waiting for Rukia when she walked out of the bathroom, in the form of a tall, orange-haired teen leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom door, his arms crossed over his chest, his face serious.

_He hadn't left._

Amber eyes met violet for a long moment before Rukia forced herself to look away. Maybe there wasn't a bus leaving for another couple of hours. Maybe he was stuck there.

Because there was no way he was still there voluntarily.

"Hey."

The single, gruff word snapped Rukia out of her trance, and she jumped quickly, turning her head to face him again. "Beginning to think you drowned in there," Ichigo joked lightly, jerking his head at the bathroom door. Rukia just shrugged. "Something wrong?" Ichigo paused for a moment. "I mean, besides the obvious."

"No, no…just the obvious."

The weak joke earned a weak smile. Ichigo pushed himself off the wall, shoving his hands into his pockets. Rukia couldn't help but lament, just a little, for the sudden loss of the easy flow of insults and conversation that had run between the two of them in the month Ichigo had spent in the house. It was _her_ fault they had lost that. Her and her damn inability to keep herself from telling Ichigo everything.

"So…you're probably leaving soon, huh?"

She was surprised when Ichigo shrugged, his face impassive. "It's the weekend, not like I have much to do at home."

"Ever heard of homework?"

"It's a myth."

There was a moment of silence before a small, unwilling laugh managed to push its way past Rukia's lips. Another moment, and suddenly Rukia and Ichigo were both laughing. There was really nothing funny about the situation, but in this case it made sense to adopt an old mantra; one could either laugh or cry.

And laughing sounded _so_ much better.

Hisana paused mid-tea sip, turning her eyes to look at the stairs, listening to the odd but sweet sound of laughter that drifted down to her ears. It had been a long time — too long — since she'd heard Rukia laugh like that. And she was fairly certain she'd _never_ heard Ichigo laugh like that.

It was a truly beautiful sound.

* * *

Rukia rolled her eyes as Ichigo sighed again, a bit louder this time, a bit more annoying. "For the last time I'm _sorry_ you're bored, but _I_ have homework to do. Read a book or something, for God's sake."

"Your taste in literature sucks."

"Oh _please_," Rukia snorted, turning in her chair to glare at the boy sitting on her bed. "What do you even _know_ about literature?"

"More than you give me credit for, clearly."

Not likely. Rukia turned back to her work, growling under her breath when, only a few minutes later, Ichigo clucked his tongue impatiently. "Ichigo! Seriously…"

"Want me to go?"

The thought stopped Rukia cold. She tapped her pen blankly against the desk; that was an idea that had never crossed her mind. "No," she replied finally, returning her attention to the work once more. She didn't see the small, but oh so sincere smile that pulled at Ichigo's lips. Lucky for him.

"My fourth foster father beat me to a pulp on a daily basis," Ichigo said suddenly, surprising Rukia. She stopped working and looked over her shoulder again, this time setting her pen down to give Ichigo her full attention. "He was a bastard, he only took kids because he got money. His wife was nice enough, she was too…submissive, though. She'd help me after, if I was bleeding she'd clean me up, give me ice packs and everything to help with swelling. But she could never actually stand up to him." Ichigo paused for a moment, his eyes turning slowly to the ceiling. "I stuck it out for four months because I was afraid Hisana wouldn't believe me. Finally I got so sick of it that I just told her. Think that was the only time I ever really saw her angry. And considering all the stupid stunts I've pulled, that's saying."

Rukia smiled softly. "Nee-san is good at what she does, I have to give her that."

And Ichigo could understand why, with the knowledge of what her sister went through living in the back of her head every single day. That was enough to make anyone strive to want better for others.

And if anyone could do it, it was Hisana.

"I was eleven when that happened. After that I started running away from the homes she put me in. Figured it was easier than dealing with the trouble, and having to worry that another person was going to turn into him."

"Running away solves everything."

Ichigo made a face as he considered that. "Are you mocking me?" He finally asked. It certainly sounded like a mocking statement.

"Agreeing, actually."

"Oh." She would know, he supposed. He couldn't help but wonder how long she had spent trying to run away from her own past. Or how much longer she _would_ spend.

"Done with your homework yet?"

Heavy, serious moment over. "Well I _would_ be done if a certain strawberry would stop bugging me so I could actually get some work done."

"Don't call me strawberry," Ichigo grumbled, shooting her a glare, and she grinned.

"Strawberry."

"Midget."

She whipped her textbook at him with a surprising amount of force and accuracy. He wasn't quite quick enough to dodge, and ended up taking the corner of it to his head. "_Ow_!" Rukia's evil grin widened. "Well you know what, fine," Ichigo said as he picked up the text book, shoving it under Rukia's pillow and laying down on it. "Now you're not getting your book back."

"What? No! Come on Ichigo, I need to finish my homework—"

"Well you should have thought of that before you threw your book at me.," Ichigo shot back with a grin of his own. "Besides, it's only Saturday. You'll have plenty of time to do your work tomorrow."

"Give me the book back Ichigo!"

Ichigo considered the furious request for a moment. "Nah."

A moment for a glare, and suddenly Rukia vaulted out of her chair, tackling Ichigo and pinning him to the bed with a surprising amount of strength considering her small stature. "Hey!" Ichigo grunted as she accidentally (or not so much) elbowed him in the stomach. "Oh fine, be that way…"

He wrapped his arms around her waist, rolling over and successfully pinning her under him. "Ah, _hey_! Come on you giant oaf, get off, you're crushing me…"

"Admit defeat," Ichigo ordered with grin.

"Forget it!"

In all honesty, they couldn't really blame for the reaction they got from Hisana when she walked into the room. "Hey guys, supper's read…um…"

Ichigo quickly jumped up, pressing himself against the wall on the other side of the bed, and Rukia sat up, running a hand through her ruffled hair to fix it.

"Hi Nee-san."

"Hey Hisana-san."

They spoke at the same time, each with an air of forced politeness. Hisana just stared at them, her mouth slightly on the floor. "Um…right. Supper's on the table. Come down whenever you're ready." She turned to walk out, stopping to look over her shoulder and jerking a finger at Rukia's previously closed bedroom door. "This stays open."

"It's not what you think—" Rukia started to say, but Hisana shook her head, cutting her off.

"Don't want to know Rukia. Just keep the door open."

And with that she went back downstairs. Rukia and Ichigo exchanged slightly embarrassed, mostly humiliated looks, and Rukia grabbed her book, walking quickly back over to her desk and setting it down on the surface.

"Come on. Let's go eat."

Ichigo let Rukia leave first, waiting until she was starting down the stairs before grabbing the book and tossing it into Rukia's closet, shutting the door and heading out after Rukia.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So I would like to point out that this week's Bleach chapter introduced a character named Yukio. I find this more amusing than I probably should. Props to anyone who can figure out why. Review please! — Sam


	16. Whatever Normal Is

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XVI. Whatever Normal Is**_

It was certainly strange, Monday morning, to wake up without Ichigo in the house. He'd gone back to Urahara's the night before. That _was_ his home, after all. And he had school. He'd had to leave, had to go back.

Rukia still couldn't help the slight twinge of regret she felt when she realized Ichigo was gone.

_Oh get over it_, a voice in the back of Rukia's head scolded her lightly. _Stop acting like such a love-struck teenager, you knew the him being here thing was temporary. Don't be such a melodramatic idiot._

_Knock-Knock-Knock_…

"Come on Rukia, time for school."

She sighed as she dragged herself out of bed, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm up."

—

It was slightly disorienting, waking up in his bedroom at Urahara's. Ichigo rolled over, staring at the ceiling and trying to remember how he had gotten there. After spending Friday night on a couch and Saturday night on Rukia's floor, being in a bed was just plain _weird_.

He sighed as he stared at the ceiling, wondering what he was supposed to do now.

_Go to school. Dumb-ass_.

Well yeah. Thanks, brain, for being completely and stupidly obvious. Ichigo tucked his arms under his head, closing his eyes and imagining, just for a moment, that he could feel Rukia's small body curled against his.

_Oh give it up_, a disgusted voice in the back of Ichigo's head spoke up. _You're not some love-struck teenager, stop acting like such a moron_.

That was certainly easier said than done.

A sudden _crash_ had Ichigo shooting up in his bed as the door flew open. "Yoruichi-san says it's time for school," Jinta said as he strolled into the room. "She told me to get your butt out of bed."

"Ever heard of knocking?" Ichigo demanded as he threw his blankets back and stumbled up. "Get out!"

Jinta shrugged as he turned and walked out again, slamming the door behind him. "Quit slamming doors!" Ichigo heard Yoruichi yell. He rolled his eyes and set to work with digging up his uniform and unfinished homework.

* * *

When asked later, neither Rukia nor Ichigo would be able to tell anyone exactly _how_ that week passed. They didn't know what happened, what they learned in school, what anyone said to them at any point in time…

It was really very pathetic.

Well, someone in the world probably would have said it was cute.

It was just nice when Saturday finally came.

Hisana rolled her eyes, trying to hide a smile, when she opened the front door and found a certain orange-haired boy standing on the doorstep. "Rukia's not home yet," she said with a bit of amusement, pressing her lips together. "She's helping Hinamori-san with studying, they have a test on Monday."

"Oh." She probably wasn't going to want Ichigo around then. "Um…"

"I'm sure she'll be more than happy to see when she gets home though," Hisana went on, stepping aside and allowing Ichigo into the house. The teen blushed a bit as he shuffled inside, running a hand through his hair. Hisana couldn't help but notice he had a backpack strapped to his shoulders. "Going on a trip?" She teased lightly; Ichigo's blush deepened.

"I, uh…what?"

Hisana laughed. "I'm glad you thought ahead this time, at least. You didn't have a change of clothes last weekend, it's not good for you to spend two days in the same clothes, you know."

It was so, _so_ much fun to tease the kid, Hisana reflected as Ichigo flopped back in a chair, ducking his head to hide how red his face had become. Part of her wondered if she should try to be nicer. But wasn't it an older sister's _job_ to tease her little sister's boyfriend?

Not that the title was _completely_ accurate. Hisana honestly wasn't sure what she would call Ichigo and Rukia. More than friends. But she happened to have it on good authority that the two of them were far too stubborn to be in any form of a relationship that surpassed friendship.

Though honestly, that may have made them absolutely perfect for each other.

Still, it worried Hisana. If there was one thing that came from being Ichigo's social worker and Rukia's big sister, it was that she knew exactly what traumas there were in each party's past, and she knew the exact results of those traumas.

Rukia had closed herself off from just about everyone when she'd finally gotten out of the foster system. She didn't attempt to rebuild any of the friendships she'd had before their parents had died. She never asked to go to anyone's house after school. She rarely ever left her room, and when she did it was usually to eat or get something to drink or go the bathroom. The only reason she had a friend _now_ was because she'd offered a quiet, helping hand to Hinamori Momo on the frightened girl's first day in a new school, almost a year and a half earlier. Hisana's heart had practically flown out of its chest when Rukia had called one day to say she was going to be late, she was going to a friend's house. It meant she was finally recovering.

Ichigo, between his own misbehaviors and the flaws of others, had been bounced around the system so much that he'd pretty much given up on ever trying to connect with anybody, though Hisana had noticed that he tended to get along with younger children. For the most part though, he had a deeply rooted mistrust of just about everyone in his life — even his social worker, though Hisana had done everything in her power to change that, she was sure it wasn't enough. He'd just been hurt too much, turned out by too many homes to believe there was anyone out there that was actually looking out for him. Which was why it had been so nice to see him actually connecting with Rukia — the first person over the age of ten that he had formed any sort of bond with since he was twelve.

But Hisana had never imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that the two of them would get _this_ close.

Hisana didn't miss the small smile that passed over Rukia's face when she walked into the living room and saw Ichigo lounging in a chair. She caught herself though, quickly morphing her expression into one of confusion as she asked, "What are you doing here?"

Ichigo shrugged as he stood up, just failing to look nonchalant, and Rukia noticed the duffel bag at his feet. "Kind of a strange place to run away to, don't you think? Your social worker's house?"

"Just makes her job ten times easier, doesn't it?"

And with that they lapsed into the easy insult-joke banter that was their relationship, disappearing into the kitchen to get something to drink, and Hisana just shook her head. Rukia had, by no means, known Ichigo was coming. But she clearly wasn't questioning it.

The two of them really were something else.

* * *

Were there better ways for Ichigo to spend his Saturday night then sitting on Rukia's bed blatantly distracting her from schoolwork she insisted she needed to get done? Probably. Was there anything else he'd _rather_ be doing?

No.

"You _do_ realize it's not strictly necessary that you do the homework tonight, right?"

"_Ichigo_—"

"I'm not saying stop doing your work. I'm just asking for confirmation that yes, you know you have _tomorrow_ to do all this too." Ichigo couldn't help but grin when Rukia growled under her breath. He wouldn't be surprised if a book ended up being chucked at his head.

"Fine, yes! I know it doesn't need to be done tonight, I _want_ to do it tonight. Happy?"

"Very."

Rukia bit back the next response that was on her lips: _Nobody asked you to come here_. Because while it was certainly true, she wasn't about to complain. Eventually the bus rides out here would get too expensive, and Ichigo would stop coming. Rukia was going to enjoy while she could.

And try to ignore the fact that she shouldn't have been enjoying his company _half_ as much as she was.

Ichigo was shocked, when they went down into the kitchen, to see Hisana standing in front of the stove. "Is that safe?" He asked Rukia, who bit back a laugh as Hisana made an impatient noise in the back of her throat.

"I _do_ know how to cook," the woman grumbled unhappily.

"Without burning the house down?"

"She's actually a really good cook." Hisana had about two seconds to be amazed that Rukia had actually come to her defense. "Except for when she forgets she's cooking something and the oil boils over into the flames and she starts a fire."

"Out!" Hisana snapped as the teens burst out laughing. "Seriously, both of you, get out now!"

Rukia jerked her head at towards the living room, and they headed for the front door. "She was going to throw us out anyways, her boyfriend's coming over tonight. She seems fairly dead-set against me ever meeting the man."

"Well gee, I can't imagine _why_!" Hisana called sarcastically from the kitchen, eliciting another round of laughter from her tormenters. They made their way outside, into the cool night air, still chuckling, and started down the street. Rukia wasn't sure what they were going to do, and really neither was Ichigo. But strangely enough tangible entertainment seemed less necessary when they were together.

It was nice.

And so they made their way down the darkened street, neither talking, their eyes on the concrete as they walked. The silence was nice. But Rukia (and Ichigo too, if he was honest with himself) knew that the silence was just a substitute for the things they should have been — needed to be — talking about.

Rukia was the first one to give voice to the issues.

"Why are you here, Ichigo?"

Ichigo stopped walking. It took Rukia a moment to notice; she was a few paces ahead before she stopped to look back at her — companion? Friend? General annoyance?

Silence ruled for a few more moments before Ichigo found it in himself to answer.

"I don't know." He was honest, at least. No bad jokes, no trying to flounder for a bogus excuse. That was what Rukia liked most about him. He never tried to make up excuses. "I just…it was easier than staying home."

"Running away to your social worker's house is easier than staying at home?" Rukia questioned incredulously. It sounded ridiculous…

"Running away to _you_ was easier than staying home." But not nearly as ridiculous as _that_. They stared at each other for a long time, Rukia trying to process the gravity of what had just been said, Ichigo cursing himself and wondering if he had said the right thing. He had a bad feeling the answer was _no_.

"Better things to run to," Rukia finally said, her voice flat. Ichigo made a noise of disbelief in the back of his throat. "What? There are."

_Nothing I can think of_. "Well, ya know…" _Now_ he was deflecting, Rukia reflected, a bit bitterly. Not that she could blame him. She would do the same thing, in his position. Another moment of silence, and finally Ichigo said, "If you want me to leave, I will."

And now she _was_ in his position. "…Don't put words in my mouth," she grumbled, turning on her heel and resuming her walking with a bit more force than what was strict necessary. After a moment she heard hurried footsteps as Ichigo followed her.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked after a moment, his tone genuinely curious. _God_ that was a loaded question. There were so many things going through Rukia's head, _she_ wasn't even sure what all of them were. So she settled for the simple answer.

"What do you care?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. But you have this really serious look on your face that you usually only get when your pissed at me, but I can't exactly think of anything I've done in the last few hours to make you mad besides bug you while you were doing homework, and you weren't even mad at me when I was doing that, so…"

His voice drifted off, and after a moment he just shrugged again. Rukia sighed, trying to think of the best way to put her jumbled thoughts into actual words that an actual person would understand. It wasn't exactly an easy feat.

"Do…do you think this is normal?" She asked finally. It was the best she could do. But the bewildered look Ichigo gave her made it clear that her best wasn't enough. "This…_this_. Us." She waved a hand between them, as if the gesture could somehow sum up what she was trying to say. "You coming out here, us being together…is it normal?"

She was surprised when Ichigo actually gave the question some serious thought. "It's probably normal _somewhere_," he finally settled for saying. "Besides, who wants to be normal?"

At this, Rukia laughed. She had to. _Normal_ was certainly something she would never claim to be. It only stood to reason that not even one aspect of her life would be normal. Especially an aspect that had become so important over the last two months.

Oh well. Normal was overrated.

* * *

**Author's Note: **/_screams_/ I am so out of freakin' practice! This story took a way different direction then what I originally wanted it to, so I've been putting off writing and I've been writing NCIS fanfiction instead, and now I'm so used to _those_ characters and _those_ pairings and _those_ personalities, I can't do Bleach anymore! /_screams again; random person throws a brick; gets hit in the head_/ Ow. Okay, I deserved that. Anyways I'm so, _so_ sorry this is so late and so bad, I'm trying to get this back on the track I was originally going to take, but this went so far south of what I wanted it to be I don't think my original storyline even applies anymore. So now I have to come up with something else entirely. Clearly I'm not doing a good job. I'm sorry again, review please if you don't hate me/the story? =/ — Sam


	17. Figuring It Out

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XVII. Figuring It Out**_

"So Kurosaki-kun was here again this weekend, huh?"

Rukia looked up from her math book, raising an eyebrow at Hinamori, who was watching her friend with a badly feigned uncaring look. She was dying to ask as many questions as she could about the fact that this was the third weekend in a row Ichigo had spent the weekend at Rukia's.

"Yeah. Guess he really has nothing better to do with his time." She shrugged, succeeding at nonchalant. She was a better liar than Hinamori.

"Maybe there's just something here that _isn't_ at home." Rukia snorted. Subtlety. _Not_ one of Hinamori's key traits.

"Or maybe he's just an idiot."

"I like my suggestion better."

"You would."

They fell silent, and Rukia returned her attention to studying. Or she tried to, at least. Stupid Hinamori, bringing up things she'd been trying not to think about.

She didn't question Ichigo when he was around. It would have made things too complicated. But damn if she wasn't dying to ask what kept coming out, weekend after weekend after weekend — and though it was a bit presumptuous, there was no doubt in her mind that he would be there again Saturday afternoon, duffel bag in hand. Hisana would smile and roll her eyes but she wouldn't question it either, because that was a task she was leaving to her baby sister. But Rukia was afraid to say anything. Afraid that if she did, Ichigo would stop coming.

And it bothered her that she didn't _want_ him to stop.

_Okay maybe there's something to this therapy thing Nee-san is always trying to push on me…_

Not that she would ever admit such a thing to Hisana.

Rukia turned down the offer to stay at Hinamori's for supper, choosing instead to begin wandering home. The streetlights turned on right as she stepped off of the driveway, and with a small sigh she turned down the street, heading in the vague direction that her house was in.

Hisana was on the couch when Rukia finally made it home, far too long after leaving Hinamori's, eating pizza and watching the news. "You're going to turn into a slice of pizza," Rukia informed her sister dryly as she closed the door behind her, slipping her shoes off and throwing her school bag onto the chair as she started towards the kitchen.

"As long as I can eat myself, I'll be okay with that," Hisana called after Rukia, who stopped, thinking very hard about this, and then looked back at Hisana, who was grinning widely.

"When you got this job did they make you do a psych evaluation?"

"No."

"Lucky for you."

Hisana stuck her tongue out at Rukia, who grinned before going to claim her own slice of pizza. With all the take-out they ate, one would wonder why Rukia wouldn't jump on the chance to stay at Hinamori's and eat _actual _food. But honestly, pizza was more fun. And pizza with her sister beat a normal dinner with Hinamori's family any day of the week.

"So what kind of toppings do you think you'll have when you inevitably morph into a pizza slice?" Rukia asked conversationally as she flopped down in the arm chair, picking the pepperoni off her pizza and popping a piece in her mouth.

"Why don't you just leave the pepperoni on the pizza if you're going to eat it anyways?"

"I asked a question first."

Hisana huffed, rolling her eyes. "Well…pepperoni. Definitely pepperoni. Maybe onions. I mean, I like onions, but I can live without them, and I'm not sure I'd want them attached to me for the rest of eternity…"

"You're actually thinking about this, aren't you?"

"You asked."

"Oh god," Rukia groaned, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Remind me again why people thought _you_ were fit to be a legal guardian?"

"Because everyone was sick of you and wanted you out of the system and out of their hair."

"Well that explains it."

They fell silent for a few minutes, eating pizza and watching as the news anchor reported on a car accident, a murder, a fire…

Finally Rukia got sick of it and reached for the remote. Hisana didn't protest, despite the fact that she _had_ been watching it. "Depressing," Rukia muttered as she started flipping through channels. She didn't even _like_ TV that much.

"And you have enough of that in your life, right?"

Rukia refused to look at Hisana now. She knew what she would see if she did. The channel surfing came to an abrupt end when Hisana stood up and turned the TV off, standing in front of it and giving Rukia an unreadable look.

"I was watching that." No answer. "C'mon Nee-san, can I just have one night where you don't try and play therapist with me? I'm not really in the mood to have my every thought analyzed and twisted and hung out to dry, if you don't mind." Silence. Hisana maintained her position in front of the TV though, and Rukia knew she wasn't getting out of this that easily. "Okay, fine. Where do you want to start? Wanna talk about how my parents didn't love me enough as a child?"

That wasn't strictly true, and they both knew it. Rukia just _really _wanted Hisana to leave her alone. But the woman wasn't at all put off by her sister's attitude. "You know what you need to talk about."

So they were playing _that _game. Fine. "Yeah, I do. I also know that _you're _not the one I need to be talking about it with." She couldn't watch TV. But that didn't mean she couldn't leave. She through the remote down on the table and stood up, stopping in the kitchen to throw away her mostly untouched pizza before heading upstairs.

* * *

"You're gettin' soft, man."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, turning to look at Renji. "Are you _trying_ to sound like a bad example of a stereotypical hoodlum?" He asked, scoffing. Renji smirked a bit before turning serious again.

"Really though. I'm pretty sure this is the longest you've stayed with a foster family in at least two years. What's up with that?"

_"Try and give them a chance?"_

Ichigo shook his head as Rukia's words rang in her ears. He wouldn't admit that it had nothing to do with her. Nothing at all.

Denial really sucked sometimes.

"Maybe I'm just sick of spending all my time on the streets." He threw the comment out casually, knowing Renji wouldn't take offense. The teen lived for the streets, but he could certainly see why such a life style wouldn't appeal to most normal people.

Not that Ichigo had ever been "normal."

"But you don't mind being confined to a house?"

"A roof over my head and meals I don't have to steal." Ichigo sighed, feigning pain. "What a terrible life that is."

Renji snorted, rolling his eyes. "All I'm sayin' is you didn't mind the street life before." _Before_ being before Hisana took Ichigo in for a month. "What happened at your social worker's place?"

"Nothing. I lived with Hisana-san and her pain-in-the-ass sister for a month. That's all."

"_Sister_?" Now Renji's eyes lit up, as if something had occurred to him.

"Yeah. Don't read too much into that. She was four feet of annoying as hell."

_So then why have you gone back every weekend for almost a month?_

Ichigo chose to ignore the silent question. "Annoying. Right. Aren't people always saying something about annoying someone when you want their attention?"

"Yeah, when you're in _grade school_. She was _just _annoying, Renji. Trust me, if you had to spend five minutes with her, you'd wanna strangle her."

Renji just shrugged, still smirking faintly, and Ichigo had a feeling he wasn't being overly convincing. But damn if he was going to give up. Even if he had to stay at it all night, he _would not _leave Renji with even an inkling of the feeling that Rukia was a big part of the reason he was acting the way he had been.

Crap. He'd just admitted it.

"Seriously—"

"I know, I know. I'm just messin' with ya, don't get your knickers all up in a twist."

"My _what_?"

Renji continued as if Ichigo hadn't interrupted. "You don't need to get all riled up, I think it's kinda cute, actually. Little Ichi is try to change to impress a girl."

Ichigo took a half-hearted swing at Renji, who expertly dodged. "How old are you again?" The orange-haired teen grumbled, glaring daggers at his friend, who grinned in return. He was enjoying this a little too much, Ichigo decided. "I'm going to kill you. You're aware of this, right?"

"Good boys don't commit murder."

Ichigo responded by shoving Renji off the sidewalk and continuing along without him, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Renji caught up easily enough, still grinning that sadistic grin. _God_ was he enjoying this, the jack-ass

"Sooo," he drew the world out unnecessarily. "What's her name?"

"None of your business."

"That's an odd name. Is it foreign?"

"Were you dropped on your head as a baby?"

Renji thought about this for a moment. "Knowing my parents…yeah, probably." Well at least he could admit it. Though it _was_ slightly disturbing how nonchalant he was about the entire thing. "So. Being serious. _Does_ this mystery girl have anything to do with the fact that you've done a one-eighty?"

Ichigo opened his mouth to deny everything…until he saw the look of utter solemnity that was ruling his friend's features. He wasn't messing around now; he was actually, genuinely curious. And suddenly Ichigo couldn't find it in himself to lie as convincingly.

"No…maybe…I don't know." He settled for the truth after a long moment of struggling. He waited for the mocking to start, was surprised when it didn't come. "Nothing from the peanut gallery?"

"I think I'm still reeling from the idea that you were actually honest." They walked in silence for a few minutes. Ichigo was surprised to find that talking, even if it _was_ with Renji, was strangely cathartic. "So do ya like her?"

Ichigo didn't have an answer.

* * *

Saturday afternoon dawned to the first snow fall of the year. Ichigo was shivering as he shuffled through the white powder that was already blanketing the sidewalk, surprised to find himself thinking about Renji, wondering if the teen had found a shelter from the snow. It'd be kind of sad if he froze to death…

He stopped mid-step as he turned on to Rukia's street to find that the girl in question was standing in front of her driveway, her face turned towards the sky. "The _hell_ are you doing?" Ichigo asked as he approached her. She didn't react to his voice, and he wondered vaguely if she'd heard him. "He_llo_, Rukia? You go deaf or somethin'?"

"Depends — what's the 'or something'?"

That was a good question. Ichigo thought for a moment, trying to ignore the fact that he was freezing, because clearly Rukia had no intentions of going inside any time soon. "I dunno — you lost your mind?"

"That happened a while ago."

"Another piece of the puzzle."

Rukia shot a half-hearted glare in Ichigo's direction before looking back at the sky. "Snow's nice, huh?"

"It's cold and slippery and disgusting."

"You're depressing."

"I try."

They stood in silence for a long time, Rukia returning her attention to the sky, Ichigo watching her and wondering what in the world she found so enthralling. "I love when everything turns white," Rukia finally said, surprising Ichigo a bit.

"Why? It's boring when everything looks the same."

"Yeah, but if everything's the same, then you don't have to worry about figuring out all the complicated stuff."

If ever there was a sentence with a deeper meaning, Ichigo reflected idly. "What do you want to figure out?" He asked, a bit nervous. Finally Rukia turned her full attention to him, her expression unreadable.

And suddenly Ichigo was very sure unsure of what was coming next.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So have you ever noticed how time just gets away from you? I feel like I just updated yesterday, but really it was over a month ago. Which I'm sorry about, by the way. I'm in my last full month of school now, classes end May 6th, and my last exam is the 13th, then I'm on break for the summer. So stick with me through the most likely long wait for the next chapter, and after that I should be able to update more regularly. In the meantime, review please? — Sam


	18. Changes

_And I've lost who I am  
__And I can't understand  
__Why my heart is so broken  
__Rejecting your love...There's a light  
__There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
__To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XVIII. Change**_

"Do you ever think about it?"

Ichigo blinked, a bit confused, as he shifted to look at Rukia. They were sitting on the couch; despite her earlier declaration that they needed to talk, she hadn't said two words since they'd entered the house.

"Think about what?" He finally asked. It was all he could think to say. What was he _supposed_ to be thinking about, exactly?

It took Rukia moment to answer. "You know…this. What we're doing. Whatever it is we're doing."

He'd known this was coming. He had just…hoped that it wouldn't. Hoped that Rukia wouldn't question this strange thing they had going on between them. "Not really," he admitted after a moment. "It's just kind of easier not to, don't you think?"

Yeah, it was. If Rukia had any kind of common sense, she would have dropped the entire subject and asked if he wanted a slice of pizza. But she wasn't the kind of person to just let things go. And she wanted to know. "Is there any…point? I mean, you wasting your money coming out here every weekend…what's the point?"

Ichigo sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. Clearly they were having this conversation. If only he had answers. "I…I guess I just don't like the change," he admitted after a moment. "I liked it here," not something he ever thought he would admit. Rukia considered this for a minute before closing her eyes, leaning her head back against the couch.

"Yeah…I'm not exactly a huge fan of change myself," she said finally, pressing her lips together for a long moment. "But…that might be something we have to get over."

Ichigo frowned. "That your way of telling me you don't want me to come over anymore?" He asked, trying not to sound too hurt. He'd known this was coming. It wasn't like anything was being _accomplished_ by him being there every weekend. It was nothing. _They_ were nothing.

It was only natural that she would eventually want him to stop coming.

"I don't know." Better than the _yes_ Ichigo had been expecting. "But…things change, you know. Sometimes we can't control it. Maybe it's better that we don't try to fight it."

Silence fell for a long time. Part of Ichigo just wanted to say _okay_ and walk out and never come back again. He wouldn't admit that he was just a bit hurt that Rukia was, in a sense, kicking him out. But a bigger part of him wanted to say, for reasons he couldn't even _begin_ to explain. Then Rukia opened her eyes, and damn it all, the violet orbs were more haunted than Ichigo had seen them since…

Since the night she'd told him about what happened to her.

"Where's this coming from?" Ichigo asked after a minute, tilting his head a bit. He wasn't hurt so much as he was curious now. The look she was giving him was one he recognized too well — a look he'd seen so many times before when he was alone and he'd looked in a mirror.

She was scared.

"Does it matter?" To him it did. He wasn't sure he could say that though, so he kept his mouth shut, waiting to see if she said anything else. She didn't.

"If you really want me to go, I will," he finally said when he realized she wasn't going to speak again. "Your call."

Silence.

"Maybe you should go."

Ichigo had been expecting that. He stood up, throwing his bag over his shoulder and stopping to look down at Rukia's small form, curled up on the couch, refusing to look at him. "What are you afraid of?" He asked after a minute. He didn't really have to ask. He just wanted to hear the words in her own voice.

But she didn't answer, and finally Ichigo gave up, heading towards the door. He didn't have to ask. He already knew.

She was afraid of letting anyone get close.

* * *

"Oh Rukia…what are you doing?"

Rukia didn't bother looking away from the book she was attempting to read. Emphasis on _attempting_ — she'd been on the same page for an hour. Hisana was standing in her bedroom door, watching her sister with what Rukia imagined, from the tone of her voice, was a solemn expression.

"Don't know what you mean."

"Where's Kurosaki-kun?"

Yeah, Rukia had known _that_ was coming. "Maybe he didn't come this weekend. It's expensive, taking the bus, you know."

Hisana, to her credit, didn't take the sarcastic bait. After a moment she moved over to the bed, kneeling down and reaching around Rukia, taking the book and tossing it aside. "I was reading that."

"You were not. I was standing in the door for five minutes and you didn't even _try_ to turn a page." Well she had Rukia there. "Wanna talk about it?"

"If I wanted to talk about it I would have called my therapist."

"You would _not_ — you stopped calling her as soon as she stopped requiring your weekly sessions." Jeez, Hisana thought she was so _smart_… "Did you two have a fight?"

"No, Nee-san, we didn't have a fight. We're not five, you know."

"You act it sometimes," Hisana chided with a small smile. Rukia chose to close her eyes, doing her best to ignore her sister. "Oh don't give me the silent treatment," Hisana sighed as she slid down into a more horizontal position, slipping her arms around Rukia's waist. Neither could count the number of times they'd done this when they were younger, before their parents had died. It had been awhile though. "What's going on, Rukia?"

Rukia sighed, rolling her eyes under her eyelids. "I really don't want to talk about it, Nee-san," she mumbled. She din't want to talk, because she didn't really know what to say. She was still trying to figure out what had happened with Ichigo earlier. She was pretty sure that conversation hadn't gone the way she wanted it to.

"Your head is a scary place sometimes, huh?" Hisana asked after a moment. She raised one hand, tapping a finger against the back of Rukia's head. "Lotta stuff going on up there." No answer. No surprise. "Someday you're going to have to let go, Rukia."

"I _have_ let go," Rukia argued pointlessly, mostly because she knew that wasn't one-hundred percent true.

"Oh yeah? Then where's Kurosaki-kun?"

"What does he have to do with anything?" Rukia asked impatiently. Hisana really wasn't capable of letting anything go.

"He's the one friend you have that you've told everything that happened to you. You have a very bad habit of pushing away people who know too much about you. And low and behold, Kurosaki-kun, who's been here pretty much every weekend since he moved out, is suddenly not here."

"It cost money to take a bus. Maybe he just didn't have enough this weekend."

"So he'll be here next weekend?" Rukia didn't have an answer to that. "Exactly. So. Back to my original question. What are you doing, Rukia?"

"Lying down. Wishing you would leave."

"You always wish I would leave. I can't even remember the last time you talked to me about something that wasn't mocking me for my lack of cooking and household-keeping skills."

"Well it's something you need to be reminded of every now and then." She was just being a smart-ass now. She knew it, and Hisana _definitely_ knew it. She was trying to avoid the conversation Hisana was trying to have.

"_Rukia_…"

"What do you _want_ from me, Nee-san?" Rukia asked angrily, yanking herself out of Hisana's grip and sitting up. Hisana sat up slowly as well, her eyes never leaving Rukia's face.

"Just wanna know what's going on in that scary little head of yours, Ru-chan." Rukia cringed at the sound of her childhood nickname. She'd always hated it when her mother and Hisana had called her that…

"Have you ever thought about going back to therapy?" Hisana asked when Rukia didn't say anything for nearly five minutes. She wasn't surprised when the teen scoffed. Rukia had despised therapy when she had been forced to go to it. There was no reason to believe that she would voluntarily go _now_, nearly two years later.

"_Why _would I put myself through that hell?"

"Because you're going to become a reclusive, crazy old cat lady if you don't work out what's going on up there." A small smile pulled at Hisana's lips as she spoke. She wasn't surprised when Rukia simply scowled.

"I don't like cats," she replied after a moment.

"Dogs, then?"

"Don't those require going outside?"

"Oh yeah…what about fish?"

Rukia considered this for a moment, and Hisana rolled her eyes. "I hate that you know how to get me completely off-track. This is why we can never have a serious conversation, you know."

"Yeah, but I find that it's a very useful talent to possess."

Hisana smiled sadly as she reached out, her fingers brushing back a loose strand of hair from Rukia's face. "Fine, don't talk me. I knew you wouldn't. But I'm begging you, Rukia — please don't shut out the only other person you've connected with since you got out of the system."

And with that Hisana slipped out of the room, leaving Rukia to think about what had just been said.

* * *

"You know what's funny?"

"Your hair?"

Renji scowled a bit, punching Ichigo's arm lightly. "Better than _your_ hair, dude. No, I got picked up earlier this week for shoplifting. It's been so long since I ran away, my social worker actually retired and nobody made the connection. It took them hours to dig up my file. There was probably a layer of dusk a mile thick on it when they finally found it."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "That wouldn't surprise me." He paused for a minute before adding, "Wait, if you were picked up, what are you doing out here?"

"You're kidding, right?" Renji gave his friend a disbelieving look. "They sent me to the group home after they finished processing me, I took off after lights out."

"Of course you did." Another eye-roll, but Ichigo smirked a bit. Renji had never bothered to even pretend he had any interest in being another foster kid. He'd gone into the system when he was thirteen and taken off two days after being placed in his first home.

"Don't gimme that, you know as well as I do that the streets are safer than half those supposed 'homes' they send us to." Well that was true. "Speaking of homes, how're things going with those new people you're with?"

Ichigo shrugged, sipping the soda he'd gotten earlier. "The dad's strange, the mother's strict, and the kids are brats. I've had worse though."

"Well that's good then." A pause. "So what do you _do_? I mean, during the day and at night and…stuff."

"Go to school. Go home. Eat food. Come out here or go to bed."

"Sounds boring."

"Yeah, but ask me when the last time I was fired was."

"What you don't miss Kenpachi's pretty face chasing your ass down?"

"Yeah, ya caught me. I actually _loved_ when I looked over my shoulder and saw he was chasing me."

"I knew you did. See, you can't hide anything from me."

The two started laughing, earning themselves a strange look from a driver that happened to be passing by. "You ever thought about getting back out here?" Renji asked after a minute. "I mean, I'd be going nuts if I was trapped in a house for even a day. My skin was crawling being trapped at that damned group home, for god's sake. I don't know how you do it." He paused for a moment before adding, "Or did your social worker and her pretty little sister tame that beast in you?"

"Shut up," Ichigo muttered, finishing the rest of his soda and tossing the bottle into a nearby trashcan. "Jerk."

"Aw, did I touch a nerve?"

Ichigo didn't even bother gracing that with an answer. If he was honest with himself he would admit that yes, he had definitely considered just taking off from Urahara's — more than once as a matter of fact. It would have been so easy. One night he just wouldn't go home, and that would be the end of it. He wasn't sure what was stopping him.

It certainly would have been a _lot _easier than trying to figure out what his life had become.

* * *

**Author's Note: **/ducks as someone throws a piece of fruit/ Okay, grievances. I'm expectin' em. I won't welcome them, but I'll expect them. Review please, if anyone's even still reading this? — Sam


	19. Coming Home

_And I've lost who I am  
And I can't understand  
Why my heart is so broken  
Rejecting your love...There's a light  
There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones  
To the place, we belong…_

_**~Shattered by Trading Yesterday**_

* * *

_**XIX. Coming Home**_

_Knock-Knock_

Rukia looked up from her textbook, surprised. "Since when do _you_ knock?" She asked Hisana conversationally. The woman did not look overly amused. She made her way into the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Uh oh. Rukia knew that look. "What's wrong?" She asked, turning in her chair so she could face Hisana.

"I need you to be honest with me."

Oh boy. Definitely not a good sign. "I'm always honest with you, Nee-san." Hisana just raised an eyebrow, disbelief clear in her expression. "Oh don't give me that look. What do you need?"

Hisana leaned forward, her elbows coming to a rest on her knees. "Have you seen Kurosaki-kun since the last time he was here?"

Rukia pressed her lips together, swallowing hard. Had she seen Ichigo? No. Had she wanted to? Oh definitely. Not that she'd ever admit it. "No, I haven't."

"Rukia—"

"I _haven't_ Nee-san," Rukia interrupted impatiently, recognizing Hisana's tone. "What's going on?"

Hisana sighed, running a hand through her hair and looking thoroughly put-out. "Kurosaki-kun went out last night and he never came home." Rukia felt her face morph into a look of worry before she could stop it. "With his history you can understand why I think he's probably run away again. I thought maybe —I hoped — he came by here."

Rukia shook her head slowly. "I haven't seen him, Nee-san. Honest. If I had I would tell you."

"Do you promise?" Hisana asked, and Rukia nodded. Hisana sighed again, shaking her head and closing her eyes. "Great. Great."

She stood up and left without another word. Rukia frowned as she looked back at textbook, no longer seeing the words on the page. That idiot. He was getting himself into trouble again. So much for giving this new home a chance…

_"What's so great about living on the streets?" Rukia asked, kicking at a rock on the sidewalk in front of her. She didn't usually mind the silence that dominated their walks to and from school, but today she was bored. Ichigo looked over at her, as if trying to figure out what game she was playing. After a moment he gave up and just answered._

_"It's easier."_

_Rukia snorted. "It's _easier_ trying to find a place to hide when it's raining or it's too cold and stealing everything you eat and drink?"_

_Ichigo shrugged, not at all put out by her words. "Easier than dealing with some of the crap that happens in a foster home."_

_Well that was probably true_…

Hisana was probably right. He'd probably run away again. But what could have happened at Urahara's that was so bad? Rukia's own memories of the place were fairly decent, especially when compared to some of her…_other_ homes. They weren't strict, not by any stretch of the imagination; Rukia had pretty much had free reign when she'd lived there, as long as she was home in time to leave for school the next morning. She had to assume it was much the same for Ichigo; after all, they'd let him come _here _every weekend without any protest…

_"So what do you do when you're on the streets? Just walk around?"_

_Ichigo shrugged. "I have friends."_

_"Friends?"_

_"Well, friend. This guy I hang out with, he makes it more fun. We usually stick to the downtown area, always something fun going on down there…"_

Ugh. Rukia groaned as she threw her pen down, giving up on her homework. That idiot.

* * *

"Your social worker is probably throwing a fit," Renji said conversationally as he handed Ichigo a bottle of soda. Ichigo shrugged, cracking the bottle open and taking a long, deep sip. "So much for all that progress you were supposed to be making."

"Three steps forward four steps back, right?"

"…Something like that, yeah."

Ichigo took another sip of his soda before turning his eyes up to the sky. The sky was a deep, velvety blue. For a moment he was reminded of sitting on the roof at Hisana's house, cursing Rukia for locking him out and at the same time enjoying the view of the stars he never saw when he was downtown, surrounded by the lights of the city. It really had been a beautiful view. And Rukia, annoying as she had been, had certainly been interesting to talk to…

"So you're really not going home?" Renji asked, draining the rest of his soda in one sip. It made Ichigo kind of sick to watch him. How could he drink _that much_ soda in one sip without exploding?

"What's the point?"

The next few seconds were a rather confusing blur. Before Renji could come up with an answer to Ichigo's mostly rhetorical question, something hard connected with the side of Ichigo's head. He yelled out in surprise as the force of the blow sent him flying into Renji, and the two of them became a tangled heap of limbs on the ground.

"Ow! Oh Jesus Christ…"

Ichigo muttered incoherent swears under his breath as he straightened up, rubbing the injured spot on his head. His eyes shot up to look at his attacker. "What the _hell_?" He asked furiously, stumbling up to glare at Rukia; to her credit, she wasn't at all put off by the fact that he stood a good foot and a half above her. But then, she never had been. "What was that for?"

"Well I figured you suffered a head injury and if I kicked you in the head that would get your brain back in working order."

Renji coughed loudly as a poor mask for the laugh he was trying to hide as he stood up as well. "Nice. I like her." He stepped around Ichigo, holding a hand out. "Name's Renji, nice to meet you."

Rukia put on an overly-innocent, completely fake smile as she shook his hand. "Rukia. Nice to meet you."

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Ichigo's social worker's little sister, would you?"

"Don't answer that," Ichigo growled, shoving Renji away. "What the hell are you doing here, idiot?"

"Eh, you know. I was bored, thought I'd go for a walk."

"You're a little ways away from home."

"I really like to walk."

"I'd say so."

The two glared at each other for a long moment. Finally Renji peaked around the two of them, his expression torn between curiosity and amusement. "Would you two like to be alone?" He asked with a smirk. If looks could have killed, Ichigo would have had the boy dead on the ground. Unfortunately for Ichigo, Rukia spoke before he could.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind…"

Renji made a show of bowing before turning and making his way down the street. Ichigo glared after his friend before turning back to Rukia. "I repeat: what the _hell_ are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"_Why_?"

"To tell you you're an idiot."

"Well great," Ichigo snorted, turning away. "I'm so glad you came all the way out here and kicked me in the head _just_ to tell me I'm an idiot. So glad we got that out of the way, now if you'll excuse me…"

"You're also stubborn, unreasonable, _stupid_…"

"So basically there's just nothing good about me, right?" Ichigo asked sarcastically.

"Not with the way you act, no. You know my sister's worried about you."

"Great. So why don't you run home and tell big Sis exactly where I am so the cops can come down and collect me."

"Because _I'm_ not an idiot. I know that's not the right way to handle anything."

Well she was smarter than Ichigo often gave her credit for, then. "What do you care anyway? I seem to recall you saying something about how we should stop being in each other's lives, if I remember correctly. So what does it matter to you what I do?"

For the first time, Rukia honestly didn't have an answer. Her shoulders slumped, and after a moment Ichigo realized that she was stumped by this. "Why are you here, Rukia? Really."

Rukia considered this for a long, long moment…and finally just shrugged. "I don't know. Why did you feel the need to push me incessantly about what happened when I was in the foster system?"

Ichigo blinked, surprised by the question. And more surprised to find that he didn't exactly have a satisfactory answer.

The two stared at each for a long time. Finally Rukia sighed, starting to turn away. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."

Renji smirked as he watched Ichigo hesitantly follow Rukia down the street. He had a feeling he wouldn't he seeing Ichigo again anytime soon.

They walked in silence for a bit, Ichigo wondering what game Rukia was playing, and Rukia just enjoying the silence for a moment.

"What are you planning on doing when you age out of the system?" Rukia asked finally, and Ichigo blinked, surprised. No one had ever asked him that before…

"I…don't know. I never really thought about it before, I mean…does it matter? I've still got a couple of years before that happens."

"You'd be surprised how quickly a couple of years will go by." Ichigo didn't have much of an answer to that. "You're smart, you know."

"Which is funny considering you just finished yelling for all the world to hear that I'm an idiot." Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration. But she didn't contradict him.

"Oh you're definitely an idiot. You're just a smart idiot, which is a very dangerous combination." O -_kay_…because that just made _so_ much sense. He'd learned a long time ago though to stop expecting Rukia to make sense. "Do you really want to spend the rest of your life on the street?"

Did he? Not really, no. He knew Renji, who had been on the streets since before he'd met him, often had a difficult time. He wasn't overly sure that was something he felt like dealing with for the rest of his life.

"What do you care what I plan on doing?" Rukia shrugged, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets. "That's not much of an answer."

"It's the best one you're getting." How irritating. Whatever the real answer was, he assumed it had something to do with why she had come looking for him in the first place. And of course she hadn't offered an actual explanation for _that_ either.

Ichigo shifted his eyes around, annoyed. He made a noise in the back of his throat when he realized that Rukia was leading him with a destination in mind. "So what, you're going to lead me back to your house and your sister's going to nab me when we get here?"

"Do you think my sister would, in _any _kind of reality, let me walk around the streets, unprotected, in the dead of night?" Ichigo had to admit, Rukia had a point there. "Anyways if you think that's what I'm doing, why are you still following me?"

Damn it, why did she always have to make such good points? "So if I turn around now and just walk back towards the downtown area…"

"I have no reason or incentive to stop you."

Ichigo stopped walking; Rukia followed suit. They looked at each other for a moment, then Ichigo turned and started walking back in the direction they'd come from. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that Rukia was still standing exactly where he had left her.

"Oh please, don't let me stop you."

Damn it she was annoying! Ichigo growled under his breath as he turned back to look at her. There was about ten feet of space between them now. "Thought you were walking away," Rukia called, and damn it all, she sounded so _smug_. How annoying.

"Do you really think there's a point in going back?" He asked after a moment. Rukia tilted her head, a faint look of curiosity coming to light in her eyes.

"Do you think there's a point in not?"

She really was the most infuriating person he had ever met. Intriguing. Without a doubt one of the most _intriguing _people Ichigo had ever met. But infuriating. So infuriating.

"You can turn around now, and walk away, and Nee-san never has to know we even talked. I know dragging you somewhere you don't want to go isn't going to do anyone any good; you'll just take off again. If you want to go back, that's your choice." She paused for a moment, and then held out a hand. An offering. "But you _do_ have choices."

Ichigo stared at her hand for a long time. He cursed when his feet moved him just a little closer to Rukia.

"Your call."

Somehow, Ichigo found himself closer to Rukia; close enough to reach his own hand out, resting it in hers.

God…she really _was_ annoying.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So um…thisisthelastchapter *dives to hide under her bed* I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just lost my inspiration, I just thought I would be better off ending here instead of dragging it out and letting it turn into a (bigger) piece of crap (then it already has). Please, please, _please _don't kill me.

As always, thank you soooooo much for all the reviews and all the support! It's more appreciated than I think you'll ever understand. And um…review please? I know this ending is really abrupt — I honestly might revive the story later, if I ever get inspiration again, but I don't want to keep dragging this out without any ideas. So for now it's getting a completed tag. Review please? ~Sam


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